Reporters asked Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning on Tuesday to comment on the U.S. government’s assertion that hackers backed by the Chinese Communist Party illicitly accessed government documents.
“On this kind of unwarranted and groundless allegations, we’ve made clear our position more than once,” Mao told the press. “China opposes all forms of hacking, and in particular, we oppose spreading China-related disinformation motivated by political agenda.”
The Treasury Department announced Monday that, on Dec. 8, it was made aware of a security breach that compromised government employee work stations.
In a letter informing U.S. lawmakers of the incident, department officials said the cyber attack is being “attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
The Treasury Department has characterized the security breach as a “major incident” — only the latest in a series of detrimental lapses in federal cybersecurity.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems and the data it holds,” department officials said. “Over the last four years, Treasury has significantly bolstered its cyber defense, and we will continue to work with both private and public sector partners to protect our financial system from threat actors.”
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Chinese hackers are believed to have gained access to the Treasury’s network by using a compromised security key from a third-party firm, BeyondTrust. That firm’s Treasury-linked services have now been taken offline, according to government officials.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is investigating the hack to determine its scope.
