- The US Treasury Department suffered a cyber attack at the end of 2024
- CISA has confirmed that it does not believe that any other agency has been affected
- The hack has been attributed to a Chinese threat actor.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed that there is currently “no indication” that other federal government agencies were affected by the recent allegedly state-sponsored attack against the US Treasury Department.
The December 2024 attack was declared a “major incident” as key systems were left vulnerable, and the attack resulted in stolen documents and compromised systems, and an initial agency assessment concluded that the attack was carried out by a “China-based advanced persistent threat.” Actor,’ officials said.
By compromising third-party security vendor BeyondTrust, attackers were able to gain remote access used by the vendor to override some Treasury Department systems, but even though BeyondTrust provides security solutions for multiple agencies such as CISA, NSA, and NIST, the Treasury seems to be the only department involved.
A combined effort
The breach was short-lived, as suspicious activity was first detected on December 2, and BeyondTrust notified Treasury on December 8. The Treasury is required by law to provide an update within 30 days, so more details about the nature of the stolen files can be obtained. It is likely to be revealed later this month.
Of course, China has denied any involvement in the breach and confirmed that the state “consistently opposes all forms of hacking and firmly rejects the spread of false information directed at China for political purposes.”
“CISA is working closely with the Treasury Department and BeyondTrust to understand and mitigate the impacts of the recent cybersecurity incident,” the agency confirmed in a statement.
“At this time, there is no indication that this incident has impacted other federal agencies. “CISA continues to monitor the situation and coordinate with relevant federal authorities to ensure a comprehensive response.”
