WaPo Says “Chinese Government Hackers” Behind Alleged US Treasury Sanctions Office Breach

Elvis Dunderhoff January 2, 2025

How do they know? Did the alleged hackers leave a note?

No evidence, unfortunately.

But you can believe them because why would they even lie? What do they have to gain by lying and accusing this foreign country of things they didn’t do?

The Washington Post:

Chinese government hackers breached a highly sensitive office in the Treasury Department that administers economic sanctions against countries and groups of individuals — one of the most potent tools possessed by the United States to achieve national security aims, according to U.S. officials.

The targeting of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as well as the Office of the Treasury Secretary — developments not previously reported — reflects Beijing’s determination to acquire intelligence on its most significant rival in the global competition for power and influence, said the officials, who like others interviewed for this report spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.

A top area of interest for the Chinese government, current and former officials said, would be Chinese entities that the U.S. government may be considering designating for financial sanctions.

The hack also compromised the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research, according to the officials. The full impact of the breach, which was disclosed by Treasury in a letter to Congress on Monday, is still being assessed. The documents accessed were unclassified and there is no evidence the hacker still has access to Treasury systems, the department said.

A spokesman for the Treasury Department declined to comment. The Chinese foreign ministry has called claims of the breach “groundless,” and said that Beijing “has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks.”

See: China Replies to Retardo US Government Claim of Hacking Their Mainframe

Even unclassified documents can be very useful to a competitor like China, current and former officials said.

A breach of OFAC, in particular, could lead to the disclosure of sensitive information about government sanctions deliberations. Before designating a target, OFAC compiles an “administrative record” that purports to show how the evidence collected meets the statutory or regulatory criteria for designation.

The records can include everything from open-source materials to “law enforcement sensitive” information and classified material provided by U.S. or foreign law enforcement, according to four former government officials. The unclassified materials are frequently stored on the government’s unclassified systems, and these may include emails or communications with other agencies and units within Treasury.

Classified material and law enforcement sensitive information, such as the identities of secret law enforcement sources, are stored separately.

But there is enough in the unclassified record that could enable an adversary to glean useful insights into how the United States is developing sanctions on foreign targets, as well as the identities of potential targets for designation. Indeed, the unclassified information in the administrative record is used to compile the news release that Treasury issues after a designation that names the person or entity being sanctioned and why.

“Gaining access to even unclassified information held by OFAC could provide the Chinese government with valuable intelligence, as such information is used to build a case for sanctioning organizations and individuals,” said David Laufman, who previously oversaw sanctions enforcement in the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

Sure, the government is admitting that the information was worthless, and obviously the Chinese are capable of going for much higher value targets, but maybe they did this by accident or something.

It all makes perfect sense.

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