The US Treasury Department has verified that Chinese state-sponsored hackers were able to successfully breach its systems and get access to a number of workstations and unclassified documents. The hack of BeyondTrust, a third-party cybersecurity service provider, was blamed for this serious breach since it gave the attackers direct access to the Treasury’s systems.
After BeyondTrust notified the Treasury on December 8 about the theft of a key that allowed hackers to get past security protections, the breach happened. The incident is considered a significant cybersecurity occurrence even if the precise number of impacted workstations and the particular data accessed have not been made public. Since then, the Treasury has taken the hacked service offline and said that there isn’t any proof the hackers are still using it.
To fully examine the extent of the incident, the Treasury is working with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Authorities are investigating the extent of the hackers’ intrusion into their systems and the possible compromised data. Following this occurrence, the Treasury has underlined its dedication to bolstering
Chinese officials have responded to these claims by denying any involvement, claiming that they are against cyberattacks in all their forms, and denouncing the United States for making baseless charges.
This event, which is part of a larger trend of assaults targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, brings to light persistent worries about cybersecurity dangers associated with state-sponsored actors, especially those from China.
