China was behind a “major” hack of the Treasury Department, the Biden administration said Monday, gaining access to unclassified documents and the workstations of government employees.
After a year plagued by hacking across government agencies, Chinese experts say it’s time to get serious about thwarting adversary espionage.
“The latest intrusion should not come as a surprise. For too long, the CCP has not paid a real price for its increasingly aggressive intrusions into our homeland and our networks,” said Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., chairman of the China Choose House. Committee, told Fox Information Digital.
“It is time for Congress and the incoming Trump administration to impose increasing costs to deter the CCP.”
It is still unclear what exactly the hackers were after. The Treasury houses sensitive data on global financial systems as well as estimates on China’s ailing economy. It also applies sanctions to Chinese companies, as well as those that help Russia in the war against Ukraine.
“Although the Treasury says that the Chinese only obtained unclassified documents, we must remember that a Treasury hack sends shivers not only in the United States, but throughout the world. Countries depend on the dollar, can stability be trusted? of the American financial markets?” said China expert Gordon Chang.
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“For too long, the CCP has not paid a real price for its increasingly aggressive intrusions into our homeland and our networks,” Rep. John Moolenaar told Fox Information Digital. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Photos)
A service provider notified Treasury of the breach on December 8 and all affected systems were taken offline. China called the accusation of being behind the act “baseless” and said it “consistently opposes all forms of hacking.”
Despite China’s denial, Treasury insisted that a Chinese state-sponsored actor was behind the attack. Chang suggested that Xi might have intended to get caught to send a message to the world.
“Actually, we cannot exclude the possibility that the Chinese wanted to get caught because they really wanted to create uncertainty around the world. “They wanted to show the world that the United States is not safe: their networks are not good, the Chinese control them at will.”
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Just a few weeks ago, President-elect Donald Trump appeared to be attempting to soften relations with China with an invitation to President Xi Jinping for his inauguration. But the recent hacking attempt suggests that such efforts could be futile, according to Chang.
“American presidents have tried to make preemptive concessions to China for decades. They have not resulted in benefits for us. And the reason is that the Chinese do not reciprocate them,” he said.
Earlier this year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s communications were intercepted by Chinese intelligence just as she was making decisions about new export controls on semiconductors and other key technologies. The same group of hackers also targeted State Department officials and members of Congress.
A service provider notified Treasury of the breach on December 8 and all affected systems were taken offline. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
China, led by President Xi Jinping, has denied involvement in the attack. (Florence Lo – Pool/Getty Photos)
And the attack on the Treasury comes just as the Biden administration is dealing with one of China’s largest attacks on American infrastructure in history, dubbed Salt Hurricane.
A Chinese intelligence group infiltrated nine American telecommunications giants and gained access to private text messages and phone calls of Americans, including top government officials and prominent political figures.
The Salt Hurricane hackers also gained access to an exhaustive list of phone numbers that the Justice Department had tapped to monitor people suspected of espionage, allowing them to learn which Chinese spies the United States had discovered and which had passed through. high.
The spate of cyberattacks has sparked frustration (and raised questions) about cybersecurity and why U.S. adversaries are able to penetrate U.S. government systems on a regular basis.
“The American people should be angry at the Chinese for hacking us, but they should be angry at our political leaders because our political leaders know what’s going on. “They have the means to protect us and they have decided not to.” Chang said.
Last week, incoming national security adviser Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., suggested the United States needed to not only play defense but also attack attacks.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Florida, speaks during a press conference following a full House briefing on Afghanistan at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S., Tuesday, August 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Photos)
“We have to stop trying to play better and better defense,” he told Fox Enterprise’s Maria Bartiromo. “We need to start attacking.”
“We need to start imposing consequences on those who are stealing our technology, spying on us and now, with a program called Volt Hurricane, are placing cyber time bombs on our critical infrastructure, like our water, our network and our ports,” Waltz said. saying.
“The United States no longer has the luxury of playing defense in the cyber realm. “We have to go on the offensive and impose COSTS on those who are stealing our technology and attacking our infrastructure,” he added in X.
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Trump has proposed a 60% tariff on US imports from China. Last month, the Biden administration took the toughest measures yet against China’s semiconductor industry, intended to hamper its ability to develop artificial intelligence for modern military uses.
