Treasury sanctions Salt Typhoon hacking group behind breaches of major US telecom firms

The US government has announced sanctions against a Chinese company involved in the Salt Typhoon hacking group. The largest telecom hack in US history.

Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) The announcement was made on Friday That it sanctioned a China-based cybersecurity company, known as Sichuan Xuxinhe Network Technology, it says is directly linked to the China-backed Salt Typhoon hacking group.

Salt Typhoon was recently targeted by the U.S. after hacking at least nine U.S. telecom and Internet providers, including AT&T and Verizon, to gain access to the private communications of senior U.S. government officials and political figures. It has been identified as the largest telecommunications hack in history.

Hackers also hack systems that law enforcement agencies use for court-authorized collection of customer information, potentially accessing sensitive data such as the identity of Chinese targets of US surveillance.

In its press release Friday, OFAC said Sichuan Xuxinhe was “directly involved in the exploitation of these U.S. telecommunications and Internet service providers.”

Treasury Hackers Approved

OFAC also announced sanctions against Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based cyber actor, which US officials claimed was responsible for the incident. The recent massive hack of the US Treasury.

The hack, which occurred in late December, saw hackers use a private key stolen from BeyondTrust – a cybersecurity company that provides identity access technology to large organizations and government departments – to gain remote access to certain Treasury employee workstations.

Hackers have allowed cyber attacks to – Another Chinese state-backed group is known as Silk Typhoon – Targeting various departments within the US Treasury, including its Sanctions Office.

According to OFAC, Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for more than a decade and is linked to China’s Ministry of State Security, an intelligence and security agency responsible for the country’s foreign intelligence gathering.

US Treasury official Adewale O. Adeyemo said in a statement Friday: “The Treasury Department will continue to use its authority to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who target the American people, our companies, and the United States government. Especially the Treasury Department.

Earlier this month, The The US government has approved another cyber security company based in China Flax for its alleged links to a government-backed hacking group known as Typhoon. The Treasury said the company, Integrity Technology Group, was involved in “multiple computer intrusion incidents against U.S. victims,” ​​including critical U.S. infrastructure.