WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP.
The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents, a Treasury spokesperson added.
Treasury contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after it was alerted of the situation by its provider BeyondTrust, and has been working with law enforcement partners to ascertain the impact.
“The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the department’s spokesperson said.
In its letter to the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury said: “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
An APT refers to a cyberattack where an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorized access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time.
The department did not provide further details on what was affected by the breach, but said more information would be released in a supplemental report at a later date.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” the Treasury spokesperson added.
The official said that the department would continue working to protect the US financial system from threats.
Several countries, notably the United States, have voiced alarm in recent years at what they say is Chinese-government-backed hacking activity targeting their governments, militaries and businesses.
Beijing rejects the allegations, and has previously said that it opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks.
In September, the US Justice Department said it had neutralized a cyber-attack network that affected 200,000 devices worldwide, alleging it was run by hackers backed by the Chinese government.
In February, US authorities also said they had dismantled a network of hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.”
The group was said to be targeting key public sector infrastructure like water treatment plants and transportation systems at the behest of China.
In 2023, tech giant Microsoft said Chinese-based hackers seeking intelligence information breached the email accounts of a number of US government agencies.
The group, Storm-0558, had breached email accounts at approximately 25 organizations and government agencies.
Accounts belonging to the State Department and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were among those hacked in that breach.
US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
https://arab.news/n774d
US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
- Breach accessed Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents
Trump said Iran ‘welcome to compete’ in World Cup, says Infantino
US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is “welcome” to participate at the upcoming World Cup in North America, despite the ongoing Middle East war, FIFA chief Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.
The war, triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28, has thrown into doubt Iran’s participation at this summer’s men’s football World Cup, jointly hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
During a meeting to discuss preparations for the competition, “we also spoke about the current situation in Iran,” Infantino, the head of world football’s governing body, wrote on Instagram.
“During the discussions, President Trump reiterated that the Iranian team is, of course, welcome to compete in the tournament in the United States,” he wrote.
The comments marked the first time that Infantino, who in December created a FIFA peace prize and awarded it to Trump, has acknowledged the ongoing war in the Middle East.
Trump’s remarks to Infantino are a stark contrast to his comments to Politico last week.
Trump told Politico: “I really don’t care” if Iran play at the World Cup.
FIFA’s president has grown close to Trump since he returned to the White House, even attending his inauguration.
Asylum claims
Iran’s federation football chief on Tuesday cast doubt on his team’s participation in the sporting extravaganza, following the defection of several women footballers from the Islamic republic during the Asian Cup in Australia.
“If the World Cup is like this, who in their right mind would send their national team to a place like this?” Mehdi Taj asked on Iranian state television.
While the event is spread out across three countries, Iran are scheduled to play all three group games in the United States, two in Los Angeles and one in Seattle.
Should Iran withdraw from the sport’s quadrennial showpiece, it would be the first time a country did that since France and India pulled out of the 1950 finals in Brazil.
On Tuesday, at the Women’s Asian Cup in Australia, some players from Iran’s team claimed asylum after they came under fire from state television for not singing the country’s national anthem before one match.
Five players, including captain Zahra Ghanbari, slipped away from the team hotel under the cover of darkness to claim sanctuary from Australian officials, the Australian government announced.
At least two more team members applied to stay later in the day, according to local media.
However, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Wednesday that one of them had subsequently changed her mind.
Burke said in parliament on Wednesday that he had since been advised that one of the group “had spoken to some of the team mates that left and changed their mind.”
“She had been advised by her team mates and encouraged to contact the Iranian embassy,” he said.
“As a result of that, it meant the Iranian embassy now knew the location of where everybody was.”
The remaining players have been moved from a safe house to another location, he said.
