Nicholas Burns, other US officials fall prey to Chinese hackers; email accounts breached

Two highest-ranking officials of the US State Department recently fell prey to a cyber attack that saw Chinese hackers infiltrating their emails. According to the Wall Street Journal, the email accounts of US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink were accessed by unknown perpetrators. 

Details about the cyber incursion remain unclear, as the United States refused to shed light on it. “For security reasons, we will not be sharing additional information on the nature and scope of this cybersecurity incident at this time," a spokesperson for the department told the New York Post.

"The Department continuously monitors and responds to activity of concern on our networks. Our investigation is ongoing, and we cannot provide further details at this time," they added. 

The report comes after Kritenbrink visited Beijing with US State Secretary Antony Blinken last month. So far, it is uncertain if the Secretary of State's email was also infiltrated. Multiple reports also suggest that the attack occurred oustide the State Department, with Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo’s account also being targetted. 

China refutes hacking claims 

The specifics of it were detailed by Microsoft via a blog post. In the article, the tech giant referred to the culprit as a “China-based actor.” It alleged that the hackers intruded the accounts of about 25 organizations. The Commerce Department later admitted that Microsoft had informed it about the intrusion and it “took immediate action to respond.”

However, all the claims relating to the hack were dismissed by China. In a statement to Sputnik, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu expressed that Beijing "firmly opposes and combats cyber attacks and cyber theft in all forms." "This position is consistent and clear. Given the virtual nature of cyberspace and the fact that there are all kinds of online actors who are difficult to trace, identifying the source of cyber attacks is a complex technical issue," Pengyu added.