US imposes sanctions on Chinese cybersecurity company after breach

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions on a Beijing-based cybersecurity company on Friday, accusing it of helping Chinese hackers penetrate American communications systems and conduct surveillance across four continents.

Integrity Technology Group supported a state-sponsored Chinese hacking group known as Flax Typhoon in a campaign to break into foreign networks between the summer of 2022 and 2023, the ministry said in an announcement, saying it found that the group “routinely sent and received information from Integrity Tech.” Infrastructure.”

This action came after the Treasury Department It was revealed in a letter to lawmakers This week, a Chinese intelligence agency hacked into its systems in what appears to be an espionage operation, gaining access to government employees’ workstations and unclassified documents.

A department spokesperson did not specify whether the Typhoon was involved in the attack on Treasury systems, or whether the sanctions were just part of a larger operation to disrupt China’s cyber capabilities.

Penalties also follow The revelation is far more damaging Last year, a group linked to Chinese intelligence agencies known as Salt Typhoon hacked into US communications networks, targeting people’s private phone conversations and text messages. An elite of senior political figuresincluding President-elect Donald J. Trump.

He loves Salt hurricaneFlax Typhoon is among the few collections that Microsoft owns It is publicly identified As linked to Chinese intelligence and responsible for a range of state-sponsored cyber attacks. The group has been active since 2021 and appears to be focused on targets in Taiwan and the United States, according to the Congressional Research Service.

“Treasury will not hesitate to hold cybercrime perpetrators and their supporters accountable for their actions,” Bradley T. Smith, acting undersecretary of the Treasury Department, said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to disrupt these threats as we continue to work collaboratively to strengthen cyber defenses in the public and private sectors.”

In September, the F.B.I He said It took down a network of 200,000 consumer devices in the US and abroad that had been compromised with malware and weaponized by Flax Typhoon.

The sanctions announced on Friday generally prohibit financial institutions and individuals from doing business with Integrity Technology Group, and freeze any of its assets in the United States.

It was not immediately clear what the Treasury Department hack achieved, but the agency represents an attractive target for state-sponsored hackers because of its Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is responsible for enforcing sanctions and identifying individuals who pose a threat. To national security.