More details have emerged regarding the breaching of Treasury Department security protocols by Chinese hackers that the agency first revealed Monday in a letter to Congress.
The department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers economic sanctions against countries and groups of individuals; the Office of Financial Research; and the office of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen were targeted, The Washington Post reported Wednesday, citing unnamed U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitivity.
A top area of interest for China's Communist government, current and former officials said, would be Chinese entities that the U.S. government might be considering for financial sanctions, the Post reported. The full impact of the breach is still being assessed. The documents accessed were unclassified, and there is no evidence the hacker still has access to Treasury systems, the department said.
A spokesman for the Treasury Department declined to comment to the Post. The Chinese foreign ministry has called claims of the breach "groundless" and said that Beijing "has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks."
Even unclassified documents can be useful to China, the Post reported, citing current and former officials. A breach of OFAC could lead to the disclosure of sensitive information about government sanctions deliberations. Before designating a target, OFAC compiles an "administrative record" to show how the evidence collected meets the statutory or regulatory criteria for sanctions.
Treasury Assistant Secretary for Management Aditi Hardikar described the incident as "major" in a letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, the Post reported. She said the department was alerted to the breach Dec. 8 by the department's software contractor, BeyondTrust.
BeyondTrust said in a statement to the Post that it has "notified the limited number of customers who were involved" in the breach and is working to support them. It also said law enforcement was notified and the company is supporting the investigation.
This is yet another major cyberespionage campaign attributed to the Chinese government the Biden administration has had to deal with. The breach of nine American telecommunications companies by a group dubbed Salt Typhoon has alarmed the industry and the government, and the Federal Communications Commission is considering a proposal for regulation advanced by its chair, Jessica Rosenworcel, which is expected to be voted on this month.
Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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