New details of an unprecedented hack of software that was used by government agencies are still emerging
As previously reported by News Front, a major cyber attack became known late last year. U.S. officials alleged that attackers exploited vulnerabilities in SolarWinds software. Responsibility for the incident was unsubstantiatedly blamed on the Russian government. Now they are trying to blame Beijing as well, which may soon become the pretext for another anti-China démarche by the United States.
The US news agency Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that a “new twist” has emerged in the cybersecurity breach case. Two journalist interlocutors claim that Chinese hackers had reached the National Financial Center, allegedly stealing data from the agency, which is responsible for paying officials’ salaries. The FBI is now looking into the matter, but declined to comment on the incident.
The National Financial Centre is responsible for processing the payroll of several government agencies, including security agencies, the State Department and the Treasury.
The agency could not determine the extent of the hack, which data was stolen or which agencies were compromised. However, the Department of Agriculture said it had “notified all customers, including individuals and organisations, whose data was affected by the SolarWinds Orion code hack”.
Later, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture said that the National Financial Centre had “no SolarWinds-related data leakage at all”.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already commented on the allegations. It said cyberattacks were a “complex technical problem” and attributing them to Beijing must be accompanied by evidence.
“China strongly opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks and cyber theft,” the Foreign Ministry added.