Treasury says Chinese hackers remotely accessed workstations, documents in 'major' cyber incident
The Treasury Department said Chinese hackers remotely accessed several employee workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software service provider
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chinese hackers remotely accessed several U.S. Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software service provider, the agency said Monday.
The department did not provide details on how many workstations had been accessed or what sort of documents the hackers may have obtained, but it said in a letter to lawmakers revealing the breach that “at this time there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury information.” The hack was being investigated as a “major cybersecurity incident,” it added.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” a department spokesperson said in a separate statement. “Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors.”
In Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson gave China’s standard response to hacking allegations.
