China rejects accusations it targeted US Treasury in cyberattack

China on Tuesday rejected US accusations that it was behind a cyberattack targeting the Treasury, calling the claims “groundless”, lacking evidence. The breach occurred earlier in December and resulted in remote access to some of the department’s workstations.

Beijing on Tuesday hit back at accusations that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach at the US Treasury Department, calling the claims “groundless”.

The Treasury said the attack resulted in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP.

According to the Treasury, the incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the workstations and some unclassified documents.

China denied the claims, with the foreign ministry saying 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,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.

The Treasury contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after it was alerted of the situation by its provider BeyondTrust, and has been working with law enforcement to ascertain the impact.

(AFP)

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