Chinese government hackers reportedly targeted the US Treasury Department’s Sanctions Office during the cyberattack in December

Chinese government hackers targeted the US Treasury Department’s highly sensitive sanctions office over a period Cyber ​​attack in Decemberaccording to reports.

according to The Washington PostState-sponsored hackers targeted the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), a government department that imposes economic and trade sanctions on countries and individuals, to access information about Chinese organizations that the U.S. government may consider imposing financial sanctions on.

The China-backed hacking group, which breached the US Treasury Department in December to access employee workstations and unclassified documents, also breached the Treasury Department’s Office of Financial Research and the Office of the Secretary of the Treasury, the report said.

The cyberattack, which the Treasury Department described as a “major cybersecurity incident,” was discovered on Dec. 8 when BeyondTrust, a third-party software provider of identity management tools, alerted the agency to a cybersecurity incident.

The US Treasury did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s questions.