Last month, reports came in that Chinese hackers had successfully infiltrated the US Treasury Department and gained access to several of its systems. Now, a recent report by Bloomberg revealed the depth and severity of the attack, and it doesn’t sound good.
The Chinese hackers had managed to break past the US Treasury’s defenses by initially accessing a system belonging to the department’s secretary, Janet Yellen. From there, the threat actors then gained access to files belonging to other high-ranking officials, as well as compromising more than 400 systems and making off with over 3,000 unclassified files. These files include sensitive information related to sanctions, law enforcement, and international affairs, far exceeding initial reports.
Investigators are saying that the Chinese hackers who attacked the US Treasury are likely the same group known as Silk Typhoon and UNC5221, given the information that it prioritised in its hack. Specifically, the groups prioritised the collection of documents and did so outside of normal working hours to avoid detection. BeyondTrust, the software contractor hired by the Treasury, was the one that notified the government body of the infiltration, at which point, the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency was notified.
The Chinese government has denied any US allegations that it sanctioned these cyberattacks, stating that the accusations against it were “unwarranted and groundless”.
(Source: Tom’s Hardware, Bloomberg)
