Three US government officials told CNN that China-based hackers recently infiltrated the email account of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns as part of a targeted intelligence-gathering mission. As part of the campaign, hackers gained access to Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink’s email account. Kritenbrink had traveled to China with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The hacking report, originally reported by the Wall Street Journal, adds to reports of US officials falling victim to accused Chinese hackers, which were revealed for the first time last week.
Earlier, accounts of US officials were compromised
Hackers previously penetrated US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s email account, according to CNN. China has regularly been labeled by US officials as the most advanced of US rivals in cyberspace, a source of bilateral strain between the two countries in recent years. When the hacking of Raimondo’s email account was revealed last week, the administration took responsibility. Although US officials indicated that those were among the three most senior targets, thousands of government email accounts were at risk of being hijacked.
In response to the account breach report, a state department official stated, “For security reasons, we will not be sharing additional information on the nature and scope of this cybersecurity incident at this time.” “The department continuously monitors and responds to the activity of concern on our networks. Our investigation is ongoing, and we cannot provide further details at this time,” he added. It was unclear how much sensitive information belonging to the US government had been compromised.
Officials assess the gravity of the hacking incident
According to the Wall Street Journal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s email was not compromised, nor were those of his tight circle of aides. However, Kritenbrink accompanied Blinken on his trip to China last month, and Burns also met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese officials. There is a chance that the hackers obtained information about US preparations for the internal debates and meetings that took place.
Senior cyber authorities from the State Department and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) rushed to determine the extent of the compromise. “We don’t know exactly what’s going on, but we know there’s a problem,” said a US official while speaking to CNN about how the alarm was sounded by the State Department to other agencies.
Senior CISA official Eric Goldstein told CNN that he received calls about the hack when he was on a weekend getaway out of Washington with his children. “The critical work that [the State Department does] conduct on behalf of the American people” made it important to assess how serious the hack was, said Goldstein.