It has been revealed late Monday that state-sponsored hackers accessed multiple workstations and stole documents from the U.S. Treasury Department.
The hackers are apparently part of a Chinese-backed cyber espionage unit identified as “Salt Typhoon” by U.S. Officials.
The infiltration reportedly happened earlier this month, and is being labeled as a “major incident”.
The investigation into the true scope of the compromised system is still ongoing.
US Treasury says they’ve been hacked by China!!
Am I the only one that’s calling BULLSHlT here?
It’s just really convenient timing for this IMO…
— SaltyGoat (@SaltyGoat17) December 30, 2024
The hackers apparently gained access via a digital “key” that allowed remote access to the system through BeyondTrust, a cybersecurity provider that had been used on the Treasury systems.
The FBI is still attempting to assess the impact of the successful hack, according to a report by Reuters:
The hackers compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and were able to access unclassified documents, the letter said, calling it a “major incident.”
ADVERTISEMENTAccording to the letter, hackers “gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users. With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury DO user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users.”
After being alerted by cybersecurity provider BeyondTrust, the Treasury Department said it was working with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI to assess the hack’s impact.
It is worth noting that the Biden administration has repeatedly bowed to China economically — and literally, as well.
Just check out the video shared below from July of last year when Biden’s Treasure Secretary, Janet Yellen, met with the Chinese Vice Premier in China.
Is there a correlation between the soft-pedaling political stance of Joe Biden’s White House over the last four years and today’s revelations that China directed it’s hackers to infiltrate the U.S. Treasury?
TOP: December 30, 2024: Barron's reports that the US Treasury says its workstations were hacked in cyberattack by China.
BOTTOM: July 8, 2023: Biden Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen bows repeatedly to Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in Beijing. pic.twitter.com/4FzmlC7fPc
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) December 30, 2024
China is certainly not new to the espionage game.
State-sponsored Chinese hacking groups have frequently been caught accessing, damaging, and stealing information through U.S. cyber networks for years.
Here are just a few of the Chinese nationals wanted by the FBI for economic and cyber espionage related incidents carried out during Biden’s time in office.
Just last week, the White House said China had accessed and likely retained the ability to tap into basically every unencrypted text and SMS communication in the US.
Deputy National Security Adviser Anne Neuberger said that there will be further action regarding these incidents in the coming weeks, without giving details, according to a Fox News report:
The news came as the state-affiliated Chinese hackers continue an espionage campaign against the U.S. government. Last week, the White House said that Chinese officials accessed Americans’ private texts and phone conversations through the targeting of a U.S. telecommunications company – the ninth telecom company to be affected by Chinese hacking.
Speaking to reporters, deputy national security adviser Anne Neuberger said that the government was planning further action in the coming weeks in response to the hacking campaign, but did not disclose specific details.
Neuberger said that the number of Americans impacted by the recent telecom attack is unknown because Chinese hackers are careful about covering their tracks. Many of the victims were located in Washington, D.C., and Virginia.
‘We believe it was the goal of identifying who those phones belong to and if they were government targets of interest for follow-on espionage and intelligence collection of communications, of texts and phone calls on those particular phones,” she explained.
This is a developing story. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!