Treasury Department Systems Hacked by China, Reports Say
Main points
- The U.S. Treasury Department informed Congress in a letter on Monday that a state-sponsored Chinese hacker broke into U.S. systems through a third-party software provider.
- Software provider BeyondTrust Inc. reportedly notified the Treasury Department of the breach on December 8.
- The agency called it a “significant cybersecurity incident” Bloomberg reported.
The U.S. Treasury Department informed Congress in a letter on Monday that a state-sponsored Chinese hacker broke into U.S. systems through a third-party software provider.
Software provider BeyondTrust Inc. notified the Treasury Department of the breach on Dec. 8, saying a hacker gained access to “keys used by the vendor to secure cloud-based services used to remotely Provide technical support to “Office (DO) End Users,” Bloomberg reported. The letter called the breach a “significant cybersecurity incident,” the report said.
Upon learning of the breach, Treasury immediately notified the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and “has since worked with various government law enforcement partners to assess the incident.” wall street journal explain.
Treasury’s responsibilities include monitoring financial data, imposing sanctions
according to new york timesSenior Chinese officials are interested in the Treasury because the agency’s responsibilities include overseeing “sensitive” global financial system data, including estimates of the Chinese economy. “The department has also imposed sanctions on Chinese companies, including those most recently helping Russia in the war in Ukraine,” era explain.
The Treasury Department and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return Investment Encyclopedia Request to comment.