China hackers stole 60,000 emails from US State Department — Senate staffer
Emails were stolen from 10 different State Department accounts and all but one of the victims were working on East Asia and Pacific, staffer tells Reuters.
Although the victims weren't named, all but one of them were working on East Asia and the Pacific, the staffer says. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Chinese hackers who allegedly subverted Microsoft's email platform earlier this year have managed to steal tens of thousands of emails from US State Department accounts, a Senate staffer told the Reuters news agency.
The staffer, who attended a briefing of State Department IT officials earlier on Wednesday, said the officials told lawmakers that 60,000 emails were stolen from 10 different State Department accounts.
Although the victims weren't named, all but one of them were working on East Asia and the Pacific, he said.
The staffer, who works for Senator Eric Schmitt, shared the details of the briefing on condition that he not be identified by name.
China has denied any involvement in the hacking of Microsoft's email platform.
US-China tensions
Allegations that China hacked the State Department — along with two dozen other, mostly still unidentified organisations — have strained an already tense US-China relationship.
The hack has also refocused attention on Microsoft's outsize role in providing IT services to the American government.
"We need to harden our defenses against these types of cyberattacks and intrusions in the future," Schmitt said in a statement shared by the staffer in an email to Reuters following the briefing.
"We need to take a hard look at the federal government's reliance on a single vendor as a potential weak point," he said.
The US State Department did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Schmitt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for an interview with him.
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