Chinese government hackers have breached the U.S. Treasury Department, targeting offices that handle economic sanctions, according to the Washington Post. The hackers infiltrated the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the Office of Financial Research (OFR), and also targeted Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s office. The breach, disclosed earlier this week, involved the theft of unclassified documents, marking it as a “major incident.” However, the Treasury did not specify which users or departments were affected.
In response, Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, dismissed the claims, calling them “irrational” and without “factual basis.” The statement labeled the allegations as a “smear attack” on China, which it claims combats all forms of cyberattacks, though it did not address the specifics of the reported breach.
Sources cited by the Washington Post suggest the primary focus of the hackers was U.S. efforts to impose financial sanctions on Chinese entities. The breach reportedly involved third-party cybersecurity provider BeyondTrust.
U.S. sanctions targeting Chinese firms, individuals, and entities have been a significant part of Washington’s foreign policy approach towards Beijing. Recently, Treasury Secretary Yellen indicated that the U.S. may impose sanctions on Chinese banks, particularly in efforts to curb Russian oil revenue, as part of its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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