Chinese hackers have breached the U.S. Treasury Department, which oversees sanctions.

Chinese hackers, likely linked to the government, have targeted the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

This information comes from the Washington Post, citing informed U.S. officials.

According to their statements, the goal of the breach was to determine which Chinese organizations might soon face financial sanctions from Washington.

The U.S. Treasury reported the cyberattack on its division to Congress on December 30.

According to the agency, the hackers compromised the cybersecurity service provider BeyondTrust and gained access to working computers and unclassified documents.

The damages from the attack are still being assessed by the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the FBI.

Although classified materials and confidential information are stored separately, access to unclassified documents could also assist Chinese authorities in understanding how Washington formulates its sanctions policy and whom they consider as potential targets, noted former U.S. Justice Department employee David Laufman.

Officially, China has denied any involvement in the breach. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China called the accusations "groundless," emphasizing that Beijing "consistently opposes all forms" of hacking attacks.

Sources from CNN reported that in the fall of 2024, Chinese hackers, after breaching the servers of American telecommunications companies, accessed communications and calls from around 150 American politicians, including data from Trump and his Vice President JD Vance.

Democratic Senator Mark Warner stated that this is "the largest breach of telecommunications networks in the history of our country." According to him, the affected providers include AT&T, Verizon, and Lumen.