China denies it was behind US Treasury hack
Beijing says claims a Chinese state-sponsored actor was behind the cybersecurity breach are ‘groundless’ and ‘lack evidence’
China has denied it was behind a cyber breach at the US Treasury Department, saying the allegations are “groundless”.
The US Treasury Department was hacked through a third-party software service provider by a Chinese state-sponsored actor, according to a letter the agency sent to Congress on Monday.
The Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing “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”.
“We have stated our position many times regarding such groundless accusations that lack evidence,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
The US Treasury described the intrusion as a “major cybersecurity incident”, since it was attributed to a state-sponsored actor, according to the letter, which was reviewed by Bloomberg News.
The Treasury was notified on December 8 by a third-party software provider, BeyondTrust Inc, that a hacker had gained access “to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users,” according to the letter.
