Chinese state-sponsored hackers breach US treasury department

The US treasury department was hacked by Chinese state-sponsored hackers earlier this month, with several of unclassified documents and access to many employee workstations. The spokesperson of the treasury department said, the breach was orchestrated via a third-party cyber security service provider, adding that its service has since been taken offline.

     

The treasury department said, it was working with the Cyber-security and Infrastructure Security Agency and third-party forensic investigators to determine the overall



impact.

     

The department was made aware of the hack on 8th December by BeyondTrust. According to the company, the suspicious activity was first spotted on 2nd December, but it took three days for the company to determine it had been hacked.

      

Earlier this month also, Chinese state-sponsored actors breached three of the largest US telecommunications companies, when hackers were able to gain access to phone calls and text messages of the lawmakers.