The U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of Overseas Belongings Management (OFAC) has sanctioned Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based hacker for his position within the current Treasury breach and an organization related to the Salt Hurricane risk group.
“Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the People’s Republic of China Ministry of State Security (MSS),” reads the Treasury’s announcement.
“Yin Kecheng was associated with the recent compromise of the Department of the Treasury’s Departmental Offices network,” says the company.
OFAC additionally introduced sanctions towards Sichuan Juxinhe Community Know-how Co., a Chinese language cybersecurity agency believed to be instantly concerned with the Salt Hurricane state hacker group.
Salt Hurricane was just lately linked to a number of breaches on main U.S. telecommunications and web service suppliers to spy on confidential communications of high-profile targets.
“Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD. (Sichuan Juxinhe) had direct involvement in the exploitation of these U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies,” the U.S. Treasury explains, including that “the MSS has maintained strong ties with multiple computer network exploitation companies, including Sichuan Juxinhe.”
The assault on the U.S. Treasury was disclosed to the general public in late December 2024. The breach was doable after the hackers exploited a zero-day vulnerability within the distant assist platform BeyondTrust.
The assault was attributed to Chinese language state-backed hackers, who focused the sanctions workplace particularly.
Final week, the Treasury introduced that the operation was carried out by “Silk Typhoon” (a.ok.a. Hafnium), a staff of expert cyberspies who goal a broad vary of organizations within the U.S., Japan, Australia, and Vietnam.
The sanctions imposed on Kecheng and the Chinese language cybersecurity agency underneath Govt Order (E.O.) 13694 block all property and monetary belongings situated in the USA or are within the possession of U.S. entities, together with banks, companies, and people.
Moreover, U.S. entities are prohibited from conducting any transactions with the sanctioned entities with out OFAC’s specific authorization.
It’s price noting that these sanctions come after OFAC sanctioned Beijing-based cybersecurity firm Integrity Tech for its involvement in cyberattacks attributed to the Chinese language state-sponsored Flax Hurricane hacking group.
U.S. Treasury’s announcement reiterates that the U.S. Division of State gives, by way of its Rewards for Justice program, as much as $10,000,000 for info resulting in uncovering the identification of hackers who’ve focused the U.S. authorities or essential infrastructure within the nation.
