China Denies Role in US Treasury Hack as Officials Point to State-Backed Attack

Beijing calls allegations 'malicious hype' as Washington investigates cyberattack targeting government email systems

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  • US Treasury workstations experienced unauthorized access from suspected Chinese threat actors.
  • BeyondTrust, a third-party service provider, detected the breach on December 8.
  • Chinese embassy spokesperson explicitly denies involvement in the incident.
  • Breach allowed remote access to unclassified Treasury documents.
  • US Treasury Assistant Secretary confirms Chinese state-sponsored APT attribution.

US Treasury Reports Chinese-Linked Breach of Employee Systems

The US Treasury Department disclosed a security incident involving unauthorized access to employee workstations, with officials attributing the breach to Chinese state-sponsored actors. The revelation comes amid escalating Cybersecurity tensions between the two global powers.

Incident Detection and Response

According to China-hackers-treasury-workstations/index.html”>reports, Treasury officials learned of the breach through BeyondTrust, their security software provider, on December 8. The incident, classified as “major,” permitted remote access to certain unclassified documents within the department’s systems.

Assistant Secretary for Management Aditi Hardikar outlined the situation in a letter to lawmakers dated December 30. The communication specifically identified the threat as an Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor – a term describing sophisticated, state-sponsored cyber operations.

Diplomatic Fallout

The Chinese embassy in Washington DC promptly contested these allegations. A spokesperson issued an official statement to Reuters, explicitly rejecting any connection to the incident. This response aligns with China’s historical pattern of denying involvement in international cyber operations.

The breach highlights ongoing cybersecurity challenges facing US financial institutions. APT groups typically employ sophisticated techniques to maintain long-term unauthorized access to networks while evading detection systems. This incident underscores the persistent nature of state-sponsored cyber threats targeting critical financial infrastructure.

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