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Chinese hackers targeted the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) in a “major incident” that took place last month, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
The Treasury reported the cyberattack to US lawmakers in a letter on December 30, blaming “a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.” The letter stated that the breach took place on December 8, but the department did not reveal which of its offices were targeted or what kind of files were stolen, only that “certain unclassified documents” were removed in a “major incident.”
According to the Washington Post, the hackers targeted OFAC and the office of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Anonymous US officials told the newspaper that the hackers were likely looking for information on which Chinese entities the US is considering sanctioning.
US President Joe Biden has sanctioned dozens of Chinese firms for allegedly supplying ‘dual use’ goods – parts and components with both military and civilian applications – to the Russian military. Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, have also targeted Chinese telecoms companies over alleged espionage, and imposed export controls on certain equipment used by Chinese semiconductor manufacturers.
Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that Beijing did not take seriously “such unfounded accusations that lack evidence.”
“China has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks, and we are even more opposed to the spread of false information against China for political purposes,” Mao added.
The alleged cyberattack came less than a month after American authorities accused an allegedly Beijing-linked hacking group known as ‘Salt Typhoon’ of breaching the systems of nine US telecoms companies. Once inside, the hackers are said to have eavesdropped on the calls and messages of Trump and his campaign team, and collected surveillance data gathered and stored by the companies on behalf of American law enforcement agencies.
The Chinese embassy in Washington DC denied the allegations.
