Chinese hackers working for the Chinese government who burrowed into the networks of nine U.S. telecommunications companies and also the U.S. Treasury Department and grabbed scads of sensitive info must now suffer the stern penalty of not being allowed to do business in the United States (“Treasury levels sanctions tied to a massive hack of telecom companies and breach of its own network,” Associated Press, January 17, 2025).
The sanctions target a Chinese hacker who officials say is affiliated with Beijing’s Ministry of State Security and was involved in a cyberintrusion disclosed last month that gave hackers access to an untold number of Treasury Department workstations.
Also targeted is a China-based cybersecurity company that U.S. officials say has direct links to a Chinese hacking group known as Salt Typhoon, which is believed responsible for a massive hack campaign into telecommunications companies that gave Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans.
The U.S. believes senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose communications were accessed.
Early in January 2025, the Treasury sanctioned the Beijing-based cybersecurity company Integrity Technology Group “for conducting multiple hacks against U.S. victims, including incidents attributed to Flax Typhoon, a Chinese state-sponsored campaign that targets U.S. critical infrastructure.”
These sanctions blocked access “to U.S. property and bank accounts and prevent the targeted people and companies from doing business with Americans.”
The new sanctions “mean that neither the hacking suspect, Yin Kecheng, who is based in Shanghai, nor the company, Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co. LTD, can engage in any business transactions in the U.S.”
It seems, then, that the China-based hackers will not now be able to base themselves in the United States.
Deputy Treasury Secretary Adewale Adeyemo: “The Treasury Department will continue to use its authorities to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who…” etc.
Also see:
StoptheCCP.org: How to Thwart China’s Cyberattacks
“This Integrity Technology, a publicly traded firm, has a listed address; it issues press releases and advertises its services to the public. With 17 intelligence agencies at its beck and call, the United States should be able to detect everything coming in or going out of that address. Hmm.”
