#USTreasury says Chinese #hackers stole documents in 'major incident'
By Raphael Satter and A.J. Vicens
December 30, 2024
Dec 30 (Reuters) - "Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the U.S. Treasury Department this month and stole documents from its workstations, according to a letter to lawmakers. The hackers compromised third-party #cybersecurity service provider BeyondTrust and were able to access unclassified documents, the letter said, calling it a 'major incident.'
"According to the letter, hackers 'gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a #CloudBased 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.'
"The Treasury Department said it was alerted to the breach by BeyondTrust on Dec. 8 and that it was working with the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to assess the hack's impact.
"The FBI did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment, while CISA referred questions back to the Treasury Department. A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Beijing routinely denies responsibility for #cyberespionage incidents."
Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/technology/cybersecurity/us-treasurys-workstations-hacked-cyberattack-by-china-afp-reports-2024-12-30/