Chinese hackers have gained access to a system that belongs to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), a government organization that reviews significant purchases by foreigners in the country, reports CNN. The system was unclassified and should not contain any secrets, but the revelation that a Chinese group gained access is worrisome.
CFIUS reviews foreign investments for national security risks and gained expanded authority in December to oversee real estate deals near military bases. The breach involved exploiting a third-party service provider to gain remote access to Treasury user workstations and unclassified files. While no classified information was accessed, officials are worried that unclassified data could be pieced together to produce valuable intelligence.
A U.S. Treasury representative confirmed collaboration with law enforcement and insisted there was no evidence of continued access by the hackers. U.S. officials are reportedly assessing potential risks and are reviewing documents obtained during the breach. As noted above, while the exact information stolen remains unclear, there are obvious concerns over espionage risks related to Chinese land purchases near critical military sites.
The report says that the U.S. Treasury’s sanctions office was also compromised, ironically, shortly after the office imposed sanctions on a Chinese company for alleged cyberattacks.
The hackers infiltrated U.S. Treasury systems as part of a broader campaign as similar incidents happened over the past year, according to the report. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen addressed the issue with her Chinese counterpart, emphasizing the negative impact on mutual relations. However, the Chinese Embassy denied involvement and said that accusations of cyberattacks from China lack evidence.
CFIUS is perhaps not widely known in the U.S. as it primarily deals with foreign entities. One of the biggest deals CFIUS banned was Tsinghua Unigroup’s attempt to acquire Micron Technology to gain DRAM production know-how and eventually produce memory in China. Given tensions between the U.S. and China in recent years, CFIUS was given more authority than it used to have a decade ago. For obvious reasons, it is now a target for various hacking groups.
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