Washington Post says China’s hack of U.S. Treasury violated sanctions office | Wilnesh News

Chinese government hackers broke into the U.S. Treasury Department office responsible for managing economic sanctions and identified the targets of a cyberattack disclosed by the Treasury Department earlier this week, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

The Washington Post cited unnamed U.S. officials as saying hackers breached the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Office of Financial Research and also targeted the office of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

The department revealed in a letter to lawmakers earlier this week that hackers stole unclassified documents in a “significant incident.” It did not specify which users or departments were affected.

Asked about the newspaper’s report, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said the U.S.’s “irrational” claims had “no factual basis” and were a “smear attack” against Beijing.

The statement said China “combines all forms of cyber attacks” but did not directly respond to the Washington Post’s report on specific targets.

The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the newspaper report.

The Washington Post quoted sources as saying that the area of ​​greatest interest to the Chinese government is Chinese entities that the U.S. government may consider imposing financial sanctions on.

A letter from the Treasury Department earlier this week said hackers breached BeyondTrust, a third-party cybersecurity services provider.

Chinese companies, individuals and entities are frequently targeted by U.S. sanctions, which Washington uses as a key tool of its foreign policy toward China.

The United States considers China its biggest foreign policy challenge, and Yellen told Reuters last month that Washington would not rule out imposing sanctions on Chinese banks as it seeks to reduce Russia’s oil revenue and access to foreign supplies to fuel the war in Ukraine.