Tue Dec 31 02:03:31 UTC 2024: ## Chinese Hackers Breach US Treasury Department Systems
**Washington, D.C. –** The U.S. Treasury Department confirmed Monday that Chinese hackers remotely accessed several of its workstations and unclassified documents. The breach occurred after the hackers compromised a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, on December 8th. While the exact number of affected workstations and the nature of the compromised documents remain undisclosed, the Treasury Department assures there is no evidence of continued access by the hackers.
The department described the incident as a “major cybersecurity incident” and stated that it is working with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to investigate. The breach has been attributed to Chinese state-sponsored actors.
This incident follows the recent revelation of a massive Chinese cyberespionage campaign, known as Salt Typhoon, which compromised the communications of an unknown number of Americans via nine telecommunications companies. A White House official confirmed the rising number of affected companies on December 27th.
The Treasury Department’s compromised cloud-based technical support service has been taken offline. Assistant Treasury Secretary Aditi Hardikar, in a letter to the Senate Banking Committee, confirmed that the compromised key used by BeyondTrust to access the service has been recovered, and there is currently no indication of ongoing unauthorized access. The department emphasizes its strengthened cybersecurity defenses over the past four years and its commitment to continued collaboration with public and private sector partners to protect the financial system.
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