Chinese Government Hackers Breach US Treasury

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Chinese government hackers breached the U.S. Treasury office responsible for administering economic sanctions, according to a report by the Washington Post on Wednesday. This identifies targets of a cyberattack that the Treasury disclosed earlier this week.

Citing unnamed U.S. officials, the report indicated that hackers compromised the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Office of Financial Research, along with targeting the office of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Earlier this week, the department informed lawmakers in a letter that hackers had stolen unclassified documents in a “major incident,” although it did not specify which users or departments were affected.

In response to the report, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, called the U.S. claims “irrational” and stated they were “without any factual basis,” branding them as “smear attacks” against China. The statement also reiterated China’s commitment to combatting all forms of cyberattacks but did not address specific targets mentioned in the Washington Post.

The Treasury Department has yet to respond to the request for comments regarding the newspaper’s report. The Washington Post cited sources indicating that a primary area of interest for China could be U.S. considerations of financial sanctions against Chinese entities.

In their earlier letter, the Treasury acknowledged that hackers had also compromised the third-party cybersecurity service provider, BeyondTrust.

Chinese businesses, individuals, and entities have often been the target of U.S. sanctions, a strategic tool in Washington’s foreign policy towards Beijing. The United States views China as its foremost foreign policy challenge and last month, Yellen indicated to Reuters that sanctions on Chinese banks could not be ruled out as the U.S. aims to curb Russia’s oil revenues and its access to foreign supplies fueling the war in Ukraine.