The State Department of the US was among the twenty government agencies whose email accounts were allegedly compromised by a Chinese hacker group, according to the United States. Microsoft and the White House claim that the goal of the attack was to obtain sensitive information.
The US government agencies, according to Microsoft and US national security officials, were compromised by a Chinese hacker group known as Storm-0558, according to their claims made on Wednesday.
A spokesperson for the State Department told CNBC that the agency had “detected anomalous activity, immediately taken steps to secure our systems, and will continue to closely monitor and promptly respond to any further activity.”
read more: Chinese hackers breached six US state agencies – Cybersecurity firm
The Department of Commerce, which has penalized Chinese telecom companies, was also compromised, according to a report from the Washington Post.
Additionally, Microsoft reported late Tuesday that it had stopped an attack by “a China-based threat actor” that primarily targeted Western European governments and focused on data theft and espionage.
The hacking group also compromised personal accounts “associated” with the agencies, most likely belonging to agency employees.
‘The Senate Intelligence Committee is closely monitoring what appears to be a significant cyber security breach by Chinese intelligence,’ Senator Mark Warner said on Wednesday.
According to him, China is “constantly enhancing its cyber collection capabilities targeted at the US and our allies.”
The Select Committee on Intelligence’s chair, Warner, said that close cooperation between the US government and the private sector will be essential to fending off this threat.
Back in May, Microsoft asserted that a hacking group supported by the Chinese government had inserted computer code that blended into Windows systems, avoided detection while maintaining access, and collected data.
It claimed that a group known as “Volt Typhoon” was responsible for the hack.
According to the group, targets included companies involved in telecommunications, transportation hubs, Western intelligence services, Microsoft itself, and the vital US military outpost of Guam in the Pacific Ocean.
According to the Washington Post, the State Department learned about the intrusion on June 16 and informed the business the same day.
And a few days later, Washington officially charged China with extensive cyber-destabilizing activities, including a significant hack of Microsoft email systems.
China, on the other hand, claims that the US is the “biggest threat to global cybersecurity,” accusing the US of “knowingly abusing technology” for snooping and a variety of other uses.
