Washington DC:
Chinese government hackers breached the U.S. Treasury Department's economic sanctions system, the Washington Post reported Wednesday, identifying targets of a cyberattack the Treasury Department announced earlier this week.
Citing unnamed US officials, the Washington Post said hackers compromised the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Office of Financial Research and also targeted the office of US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
The ministry announced in a letter to lawmakers earlier this week that hackers had stolen unclassified documents in a “major incident.” It was not specified which users or departments were involved.
Asked about the newspaper's report, Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said the “irrational” US claim was “without any factual basis” and represented “slander attacks” against Beijing.
The statement said China is “combatting all forms of cyberattacks” and did not directly address the Washington Post's reporting on specific targets.
The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the newspaper report.
The Washington Post quoted sources as saying that Chinese entities that the US government may consider designating for financial sanctions would be one of the main areas of interest for the Chinese government.
The letter from the Treasury Department earlier this week said hackers had compromised third-party cybersecurity services provider BeyondTrust.
Chinese companies, individuals and entities have often been the target of US sanctions, which Washington has used as a key tool in its foreign policy towards Beijing.
The United States sees China as its biggest foreign policy challenge, and last month Yellen told Reuters that Washington would not rule out sanctions on Chinese banks as the country seeks to boost Russian oil revenues and access to foreign to reduce supplies to fuel the war in Ukraine.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
