The Associated Press reports that the U.S. Treasury Department has described remote access by Chinese state-sponsored hackers to workstations and unclassified documents as a “major cybersecurity incident.”
The Treasury Department said it learned of the latest problem on Dec. 8, when a third-party software service provider, BeyondTrust, flagged that hackers had stolen a key “used by the vendor to secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support” to workers. That key helped the hackers override the service’s security and gain remote access to several employee workstations.
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According to CNN, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry denied the accusation:
“We have repeatedly stated our position on such groundless accusations lacking evidence. China has always opposed all forms of cyberattacks, and we are even more opposed to spreading false information about China for political purposes,” said Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry.
