The U.S. Division of the Treasury’s Workplace of International Belongings Management (OFAC) has sanctioned Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based hacker for his function within the current Treasury breach and an organization related to the Salt Storm menace group.
“Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for over a decade and is affiliated with the Individuals’s Republic of China Ministry of State Safety (MSS),” reads the Treasury’s announcement.
“Yin Kecheng was related to the current compromise of the Division of the Treasury’s Departmental Workplaces community,” says the company.
OFAC additionally introduced sanctions in opposition to Sichuan Juxinhe Community Know-how Co., a Chinese language cybersecurity agency believed to be straight concerned with the Salt Storm state hacker group.
Salt Storm was not too long ago 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 Community Know-how Co., LTD. (Sichuan Juxinhe) had direct involvement within the exploitation of those U.S. telecommunication and web service supplier firms,” the U.S. Treasury explains, including that “the MSS has maintained sturdy ties with a number of laptop community exploitation firms, together with Sichuan Juxinhe.”
The assault on the U.S. Treasury was disclosed to the general public in late December 2024. The breach was potential 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 performed by “Silk Storm” (a.okay.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 below Govt Order (E.O.) 13694 block all property and monetary belongings positioned in the US 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 express authorization.
It’s value 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 Storm hacking group.
U.S. Treasury’s announcement reiterates that the U.S. Division of State gives, by 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 vital infrastructure within the nation.