Beijing dismisses cyberattack accusations as ‘politically motivated’

The US Treasury has said it suffered a major data breach, accusing state-sponsored Chinese hackers of responsibility

China has strongly denied it conducted a state-sponsored cyberattack on the US Treasury Department, following accusations on Monday that hackers accessed sensitive files and workstations in what officials have called a “major” security breach.

On Tuesday, Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that Beijing had made its position very clear regarding “such unfounded accusations that lack evidence.” The spokesperson stated that “China 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.”

The breach, which was discovered on December 8 by cybersecurity firm BeyondTrust, involved the theft of a security key that enabled unauthorized access to unclassified documents on Treasury Department systems. The department has since taken the affected machines offline and assured the public that there is no evidence suggesting continued access by the hackers. US officials have pointed the finger at Beijing, but have not publicly disclosed their proof.

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This incident comes on the heels of reports regarding a separate breach by an alleged Chinese hacking group called Salt Typhoon which infiltrated US telecommunications systems. The hackers reportedly accessed phone conversations and text messages of US officials, including President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. The Salt Typhoon breach specifically targeted networks of major telecom companies such as AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen.