Hackers based in China have breached the email accounts of the United States Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, as part of a recent targeted intelligence-gathering campaign, according to three US officials familiar with the matter, as reported by CNN.
Chinese hackers gained unauthorized access to the email accounts of both the US Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, and Daniel Kritenbrink, Deputy Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, who recently traveled to China with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
This news, initially reported by the Wall Street Journal, adds to the fallout from the alleged Chinese hacking first revealed last week. The hackers also infiltrated the emails of US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, as reported by CNN.
US authorities have consistently labeled China as the most advanced adversary in cyberspace, and tensions over cyber issues have been a source of bilateral friction in recent years. The FBI has stated that Beijing has a larger hacking program than any other government combined.
The hackers gained access to the unclassified email system of the US government, and US officials generally assume that anything on the unclassified network can be accessed by hackers. However, the Biden administration believes that the Chinese hacking operation allowed Beijing to gain insight into the United States’ mindset ahead of Secretary Blinken’s highly significant trip to China in June, as reported by CNN. According to a senior State Department official, Blinken raised the hacking issue during a meeting with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi last week.
Last week, when asked about the hacking – before it was revealed that Burns’ and Kritenbrink’s emails had been accessed – Blinken did not divulge how the United States intended to respond. “I can’t discuss the specifics of our response. Moreover, and most importantly, this incident is still under investigation,” Blinken said at a press conference in Jakarta, Indonesia.
