According to a Monday report in the media, a Chinese government-sponsored hackers had breached the US Treasury Department and had access to government workstations unauthorizedly and unclassified documents.
The Treasury Department on Monday referred to the break-in as a “major cybersecurity incident” that happened on Dec. 8 after a third-party software provider named BeyondTrust notified the agency, reported The New York Times.
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According to a letter to lawmakers issued by the department, “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
As per the report, the hackers managed to gain remote access to certain systems using a security key.
Further, as per media reports, they confirmed that the breached service had been taken offline, noting that “there is no evidence that the Chinese state actor still has access to Treasury information.”
Although China has continued to deny such attack involvement, such latest violations follow other cyber incidents linked to China, such as the one targeting US telecom networks.
The Chinese administration has also stressed the collaboration with the US on matters of cybersecurity.