Three US sources informed HEADLINESFOREVER that an agency in the US responsible for assessing the potential dangers posed by foreign investments to national security had been infiltrated by Chinese hackers.
As tensions between the world’s two superpowers persist, this previously unreported heist highlights Beijing’s great interest in spying on a US government institution with wide powers to prevent Chinese investment in the US.
The intrusion into the unclassified system of the Treasury Department was a component of a larger hacking campaign. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), the office that was breached in December, was granted more power to investigate real estate transactions close to US military installations. Concerns that China or its proxies may acquire land near US bases in order to eavesdrop on them have been a growing concern for US politicians and national security officials.
It’s the latest in a series of accusations of Chinese cyber-espionage that have unsettled US officials over the last year and will provide a problem for the new Trump administration. According to prior reports from HEADLINESFOREVER, a distinct Chinese hacking outfit penetrated US telecom networks in order to eavesdrop on the phone conversations of prominent US politicians, including the soon-to-be president, Donald Trump.
Last week, the US Treasury informed legislators about the compromise of unclassified material. Since then, US officials have been rushing to determine if the attack poses any threat to national security.
The hackers also went for the US Treasury’s sanctions division, which had just sanctioned a Chinese firm for its alleged involvement in cyberattacks, according to two US officials who spoke with HEADLINESFOREVER. News of the sanctions office’s intended victimization broke initially in The Washington Post. The specific data stolen from Treasury systems remained unclear at the time of this writing.
One US official stated that officials are going over each document that the hackers took and will determine how the stolen material affected national security as a whole. Though no proof of secret information access has been found, there is apprehension that the unclassified data, when combined, may offer valuable insight to the Chinese.
A representative from the Department of the Treasury chose to rehash an earlier statement rather than address inquiries on the hackers’ targeting of CFIUS.
Several unclassified papers stored by Treasury users and their workstations were “remotely accessible” when hackers breached a “third-party service provider” last month, according to a Treasury official.
The statement went on to say that the department has collaborated “with law enforcement partners across the government to ascertain the impact of this incident” and that there is no proof that the hackers have maintained access to Treasury systems or data.
The Treasury spokeswoman emphasized that the agency takes any security breach involving its systems and the data they contain extremely seriously. “Throughout the past four years, Treasury has made great strides in strengthening its cyber defense. Our commitment to collaborating with partners in the public and private sectors to safeguard our financial system from potential attackers”
The Chinese embassy in Washington, DC, was represented by Liu Pengyu, who maintained China’s long-standing denials of involvement in cyber activities.
In an email, Liu stated, “President Xi Jinping said that there is no evidence that supports the irrational claim of the so-called ‘cyberattacks from China.'” This statement was made during President Xi Jinping’s meeting with President Biden in Lima last year.
According to CNBC, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressed her disapproval of the attack, saying it does not “build confidence in our relationship [with China]” and that she brought up the matter on a Monday call with her Chinese counterpart.
Along with Yellen, other Cabinet leaders, such as the defense and homeland security secretary, make up CFIUS. As the US-China rivalry has intensified and spread to include more intricate economic operations in more distant regions of the US, the once-obscure CFIUS has become a prominent agency.
In 2023, HEADLINESFOREVER broke the story that a corporation had purchased land in a county near a major California Air Force installation for hundreds of millions of dollars, prompting a probe by the CFIUS.
Rep. Mike Waltz, who will be serving as national security advisor, and Sen. Marco Rubio, who is being considered by Trump for the position of secretary of state, are among the top staff officials and Cabinet members who have advocated for stricter sanctions on China due to security concerns.
Even though the United States military and intelligence services conduct offensive cyber operations against China, Waltz said he would want to see more done.
“The United States can’t afford to merely engage in cyber defense any longer,” Waltz wrote on X last month. “Those who are stealing our technology and attacking our infrastructure must be held accountable by imposing costs on them. We must take the offensive.”