ANI
29 Sep 2023, 07:03 GMT+10
Washington, DC [US], September 29 (ANI): The Chinese hackers breached multiple US governments and stole around 60,000 emails from senior State Department officials in May this year, CNN reported citing a Senate staffer.
The new details from a briefing to senators and their staffers illustrate how the Chinese operatives allegedly scoured the inboxes of senior US diplomats focused on diplomacy in the Pacific ahead of a high-stakes trip by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to China in June.
The hackers raided the unclassified email accounts of nine State Department officials focused on East Asia and the Pacific, and another official who works on European issues, CNN reported citing a staffer in the office of Republican Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri.
The staffer, who declined to be named, attended a briefing on the hacking campaign that senior State Department IT officials gave the Senate on Wednesday.
The hackers were also able to access a list of every State Department email address, according to the Senate staffer. That kind of reconnaissance could be useful information for any follow-on hacking efforts aimed at the State Department, according to CNN.
At a press briefing on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed that the hackers accessed about 60,000 State Department emails.
"This was a hack of Microsoft systems that the State Department uncovered and notified Microsoft about," Miller told reporters.
The State Department has not formally attributed the hack, but Microsoft has blamed a"China-based" hacking group.
"We have no reason to doubt [Microsoft's] attribution in this case," CNN quoted Miller as saying.
The stealthy hacking campaign exploited Microsoft email software and began with the hackers breaching a Microsoft engineer, the company has said. The cyber intrusions have showcased the leaps China has made in its cyber capabilities, CNN reported citing experts. This has prompted US lawmakers and Biden administration officials to scrutinize the US government's reliance on Microsoft technology.
The cyber-espionage campaign breached the unclassified email accounts of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of State for East Asia who travelled with Blinken to China in June, CNN previously reported.
Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, who has been critical of the Chinese government, said he was also breached by the hackers.
Chinese government officials have responded to the hacking allegations by accusing the US government of conducting cyberattacks against China.
In a statement to CNN, Senator Schmitt welcomed the briefing but said his investigation into the hacks is"far from over.""We need to harden our defences against these types of cyberattacks and intrusions in the future, and we need to take a hard look at the federal government's reliance on a single vendor as a potential weak point," CNN quoted Schmitt as saying. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Perth Herald news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Perth Herald.
More InformationREDMOND, Washington: Microsoft President Brad Smith said there is no chance of super-intelligent artificial intelligence (AI) being developed within the ...
Russia's envoy has held talks with the chief of Gujarat, which contains India's largest refineries and will host a financial ...
The Russian president will discuss bilateral ties and the situation in the Middle East during his visit, the Kremlin has ...
Moscow has repeatedly condemned the seizing of its funds as illegalAmbassadors from several EU countries have rejected a proposal by ...
The Russian envoy has held talks with the chief of Gujarat, which contains India's largest refineries and an upcoming financial ...
As worries mount about unsustainable levels of debt in the Chinese economy, a major ratings firm on Tuesday announced that ...
New Delhi [India], December 6 (ANI): After being named the 'Player of the Series' during India's successful 4-1 series win ...
The national accounts released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show economic growth slid to a measly 0.2% in the ...
The principle is vital to cross-Strait stability, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson has saidThe Taiwan question is exclusively China's internal affair, ...
Millions around the world turn to Wikipedia when they want to better understand the world around them, and that apparently ...
New Delhi [India], December 6 (ANI): Arguably among the best in his trade across cricketing generations, star India speedster Jasprit ...
The ?one-China principle? is the solid anchor to cross-Strait stability, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson has saidThe Taiwan question is exclusively ...