Chinese hackers hijack U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's computers

Chinese hackers have infiltrated the computers of the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen and some of her lieutenants.

According to reports by Bloomberg on 16 January, the infiltration is part of a broader breach of the agency by a group of Chinese hackers.

There have been previous reports of Chinese hackers attacking the U.S. Treasury’s sub-stations, which the Chinese government has outrightly denied.

Up to 50 files accessed

Bloomberg was the first to report the incident, stating that up to 50 files were accessed by the China State-sponsored hackers.

The computers of Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo, and Acting Under Secretary Brad Smith were also hacked in the incident.

In all, about 400 computers were compromised by the hackers who exploited a vulnerability in a third-party software by BeyondTrust, a firm employed by the department to provide remote access services.

However, the hack only targeted files on the department’s role in sanctions, intelligence, and international affairs, with employee usernames, passwords, and more than 3,000 files on unclassified personal devices.

One prominent aspect of the hack is the access to what the report calls “law enforcement sensitive” data and material on ongoing investigations by the Committee on Foreign Investment which reviews the national security implications of some foreign financing.

Previous hack

Roughly two weeks ago, The Treasury Department said Chinese state-sponsored hackers attacked its workstations in what it called a ‘major’ incident.

However, China vehemently denied the allegation, referring to it as baseless because its government was opposed to any form of hacking.

With this new attack on The Treasury, it looks like there’s an organized attempt at stealing vital international information from the department to use against the U.S Government, regardless of who is responsible for the hacks.