State-sponsored Chinese hackers breached U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s computer, accessing thousands of unclassified documents in December, anonymous sources told Bloomberg on Thursday.
The hackers also infiltrated computers belonging to two of Yellen’s lieutenants, Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo and Acting Under Secretary Brad Smith, the report said. The breach is the latest in a series of Chinese-linked hacking incidents targeting federal officials and agencies throughout President Joe Biden’s term.
The Treasury wrote that Yellen “expressed serious concern about malicious cyber activity by [People’s Republic of China] state-sponsored actors and its impact on the bilateral relationship” in a Jan. 6 statement after the secretary met virtually with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
The Chinese hackers reportedly breached Yellen’s accounts along with over 400 other computers, accessing staffers’ login credentials and more than 3,000 unclassified files on personal devices. The operatives prioritized files related to sanctions, intelligence and international affairs ahead of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday, the outlet reported.
The Treasury alerted lawmakers to the initial breach in a Dec. 30 letter, which said Chinese operatives were able to “access certain unclassified documents.” (RELATED: Chinese Hackers Have Been Feasting On Key US Infrastructure On Biden’s Watch)
“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 end users,” Assistant Secretary for Management at the Treasury Aditi Hardikar wrote. “With access to the stolen key, the threat actor was able to override the service’s security, remotely access certain Treasury DO user workstations, and access certain unclassified documents maintained by those users.”
The hackers were reportedly able to breach the computers by exploiting BeyondTrust, a third-party software company the Treasury uses. Hardikar said the service has since been “taken offline” and that there is “no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury information.”
The state-sponsored breach is among several throughout Biden’s tenure. The numerous cyberattacks, which intensified in early 2023, targeted telecommunications companies, utility infrastructure and multiple federal agencies, including the State and Commerce Departments.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="34168 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=34168">8 Comments
At this point, with bidens scorched earth actions I doubt the chinese had to work very hard to access..
WTF do you think the fifty thousand military age single Chinese men are doing here ?
You know , the ones who crossed our border illegally , and asshole Joe Biden let stay .
Priceless .
Thank God that the fool Biden is gone .
Ucking fineese.
2020 russia russia russia 2025 china china china
You seem to forget the 2020 cyber attack against U.S. government agencies committed by Russia. You know, that country that Trump’s buddy Putin runs. It lasted 9 months and repeated in mountains of data for Russia.
It is not just Biden, think about the all the stupid failed armed services, FBI, CIA, etc. which are involved in this system wide failure.
I guess everybody forgot when the number one lot lizard was the Secretary of State Hillary dog face Clinton. There was what 600 billion dollars that went missing and never found.
This one is priceless the CIA had a software program that could supposedly hack anyone’s system and make it look like someone else done it whoever they wanted to look guilty.
Things just went missing just like the silverware and computer keys at the White House when the Clinton’s left the White House.
While crooked Joe was hard at work sleeping on the job or past out at the beach these last four years it seems like there has been nonstop hacking of computer networks across the US.
Gee I wonder who would do such a thing under Garlands watch?
easy pickins.