The United States has imposed sanctions on Yin Kecheng and Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD. (Sichuan Juxinhe), China-linked malicious cyber actors responsible for serious intrusions against U.S. victims.
Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based malicious cyber actor and China’s Ministry of State Security affiliate was associated with the recent compromise of the Department of Treasury’s network.
Sichuan Juxinhe is a Sichuan-based cybersecurity company with “direct involvement in the Salt Typhoon’s malicious cyber activities.”
China-linked Salt Typhoon malicious cyber activity “is responsible for numerous compromises of U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies as part of a broad and significant cyber espionage campaign,” claimed the U.S. government.
China-based hackers “pose a persistent and significant threat to our national security and these intrusions into U.S. government systems and critical infrastructure are examples of the PRC’s willingness to operate in a malicious and reckless manner in cyberspace,” said the U.S. Department of State.
“We are sharing information with countries around the world on how to identify PRC intrusions into their systems and apply best practices to harden their networks,” a statement by the agency said.
In addition to sanctions, the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice (RFJ) program, which the Diplomatic Security Service administers, is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, engages in certain malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
The United States said it would continue to use all the tools at its disposal to impose costs for, defend against, and deter China’s cyber threats to the safety and security of Americans, U.S. critical infrastructure, and “that of our allies and partners.”
