- Chinese hackers probably breached the US Treasury Department
- They exploited BeyondTrust software to gain unauthorized access
- The investigation is underway and details will be in the report
Allegedly, hackers financed by the Chinese government breached the US Treasury Department and gained access to unclassified documents.
They exploited a vulnerability in the software of security provider BeyondTrust, which the company has already announced on its website.
The investigation is still underway and details will come later – in the meantime, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington is firmly opposes US’s against the unsubstantiated claims against Beijing.
More About US Treasury Department Hack
So, according to preliminary estimates, a group of hackers paid by the Chinese government infiltrated the US Treasury Department network and gained access to some unclassified documents.
To do this, they exploited a vulnerability in the BeyondTrust software, more specifically to gain access to a key used by the vendor to override certain parts of the system.
According to the Guardian, the U.S. Department of the Treasury spokesperson commented:
“The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to treasury systems or information.”
BeyondTrust indicated that this does not insure all of their customers, and rushed to report the vulnerability as early as Dec. 8, as Aditi Hardikar, assistant secretary for management of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, noted to NBC News:
“A third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, that a threat actor had gained access to a key used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support for Treasury Departmental Offices (DO) end users.”
The U.S. Department of the Treasury immediately contacted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (Cisa), the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and third-party forensic investigators to determine the impact of the incident.
While the investigation is still ongoing, no definite conclusions have been reached, and details will be outlined in a 30-day supplemental report. China’s official spokesman in Washington ‘firmly opposes the US’s smear attacks against China without any factual basis.’
Treasury spokesperson added:
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems and the data it holds. 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.”
Conclusion
It may be worth listening to the Chinese representative and not jumping to conclusions, but it is still someone else’s responsibility as the investigation will probably show.
A lot will depend on it, whether it was a political hack on the background of economic confrontation between the US and China, or it is the realization of a completely different scenario. However, it is beyond doubt a high-profile event, and it is likely that there may be some message behind it.
Be aware and stay tuned.
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