Treasury Sanctions Chinese Hacker and Sichuan Firm over Treasury Breach and Salt Typhoon Telecom Espionage
The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced sanctions on January 17, 2025, against Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based cyber actor, and Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD., a Sichuan-based cybersecurity company, tying them respectively to the recent compromise of the Treasury Department's own network and to the Salt Typhoon telecommunications espionage campaign. The designations were made under Executive Order 13694, as further amended by a new cybersecurity executive order; their U.S. assets are blocked and U.S. persons are barred from transacting with them.
According to Treasury, Yin Kecheng has been a cyber actor for more than a decade, is affiliated with China's Ministry of State Security, and was associated with the compromise of the Treasury Department's Departmental Offices network. In an earlier notification to Congress, Treasury said that in December 2024 hackers used a stolen key belonging to the third-party remote-support provider BeyondTrust to remotely access certain Treasury employee workstations.
Sichuan Juxinhe, Treasury said, had direct involvement in the exploitation of the networks of multiple major U.S. telecommunications and internet service providers by Salt Typhoon. Treasury said Salt Typhoon has been active since at least 2019 and has compromised numerous U.S. communications-sector companies; U.S. officials have called it one of the largest telecommunications hacks in U.S. history, ensnaring at least nine U.S. telecom firms, including networks of AT&T and Verizon.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller issued a statement the same day supporting the sanctions. "The Treasury Department will continue to use its authorities to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who target the American people, our companies, and the United States government, including those who have targeted the Treasury Department specifically," said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Adewale O. Adeyemo. On January 3, OFAC had sanctioned a Beijing-based cybersecurity company for its role in the separate Flax Typhoon campaign. China's Foreign Ministry has previously responded to the Salt Typhoon allegations by saying the U.S. accusations lack solid evidence.
(Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury)
Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于华盛顿的美国财政部大楼。（CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons） / Photo: The U.S. Department of the Treasury building in Washington. (CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
