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(Bloomberg) -- The US Treasury Department said it was hacked by a Chinese state-sponsored actor, calling it a “major cybersecurity incident” just days after the Biden administration said the country is behind a vast cyber-espionage campaign that’s ensnared nine telecommunications companies.
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Working through an outside software provider, hackers illegally accessed a “key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service” that, in turn, provides technical support to Treasury Department users, the agency said in a letter to Congress. The software provider, BeyondTrust Inc., informed Treasury of the breach on Dec. 8, according to the letter, which was reviewed by Bloomberg.
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News of the latest incursion follows the White House announcement on Dec. 27 that nine telecommunications firms had been breached by a state-sponsored Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon. American officials have struggled to combat such espionage activity from nation-state hackers, who have potentially provided their intelligence agencies with deep access into US citizens’ communications and activities. Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters that many organizations are still failing to use basic cybersecurity practices.
President-elect Donald Trump’s team, which will soon have to oversee any response to the recent slew of hacks, vowed to hold China accountable but wouldn’t specify how.
“For too long our country has been on defense when it comes to cyberattacks,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s transition spokeswoman, said in a statement to Bloomberg. “The Trump Administration is committed to imposing costs on private and nation state actors who continue to steal our data and attack our infrastructure.”
The government in Beijing rejects American “smear attacks against China without any factual basis,” the Chinese embassy in Washington said in an emailed statement. “The US needs to stop using cybersecurity to smear and slander China, and stop spreading all kinds of disinformation about the so-called Chinese hacking threat,” the embassy said.
BeyondTrust, which sells managed access software and other cybersecurity products, holds contracts with the federal government worth more than $4 million, according to government data compiled by Bloomberg. In addition to Treasury, the data shows, BeyondTrust does business with the Department of Defense, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Justice, along with other agencies.