The U.S. Treasury Department is reporting that it was hacked by Chinese operatives in what it describes as a “major incident.”
The department publicly acknowledged the security breach on Monday via a letter intended to notify lawmakers of the incident.
“Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor,” the letter reads.
The Treasury Department reported that personnel were first made aware of the breach on Dec. 8 after a third-party firm flagged the illicit access.
Chinese hackers allegedly accessed government employee workstations and obtained nonclassified documents through the use of a compromised security key.
“In accordance with Treasury policy, intrusions attributable to an APT are considered a major cybersecurity incident,” according to the department’s letter.
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“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems and the data it holds,” department officials said. “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.”
The exact nature of the documents accessed in the hack is not yet known, nor the exact date of the illicit access.
