Republicans Demand Answers On Chinese Hacking Of Treasury Dept

Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Biden administration provide answers on which China-sponsored group it believes is responsible for successfully hacking the Treasury Department last month. 

Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) and Rep. French Hill (R-AR) demanded this week that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen brief them on the breach of department employee workstations and the unclassified documents stored on them. Scott is the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, while Hill is the vice chair of the House Committee on Financial Services. 

“This breach of federal government information is extremely concerning,” the lawmakers wrote on Tuesday. “As you know, Treasury maintains some of the most highly sensitive information on U.S. persons throughout government, including tax information, business beneficial ownership, and suspicious activity reports.”

“This information must be vigilantly protected from theft or surveillance by our foreign adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party (‘CCP’), who seek to harm the United States,” Scott and Hill added. “As such, the fact that a CCP-sponsored APT actor was able to access Treasury’s information systems is unacceptable and raises serious questions about the protocols for safeguarding sensitive federal government information from future cybersecurity incidents.”

The Treasury Department first publicly commented on the hack on Tuesday but said it was first notified of the breach on December 8. In a letter to senators, Assistant Secretary for Management Aditi Hardikar noted that the department believed a Chinese-backed intelligence group was behind the breach, calling it a “major cyber security incident.”

Hardikar added that the department believed China could no longer access its systems. 

In response, Scott and Hill want the Treasury Department to provide a briefing on the hacking no later than January 10. The briefing should provide more specific information on who the department believes was behind the breach and the extent of the information accessed. They also want details on what specific preventive measures have been taken to prevent similar incidents. 

China has denied involvement with the breach. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said the accusation was “groundless” and lacked evidence. 

China has previously been accused of being behind major hacking operations targeting the American government, including one breach that accessed tens of thousands of emails from State Department employees.