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GOP congressman says Chinese spies behind State Department hack also infiltrated his emails
By Anders Hagstrom
Published August 15, 2023
The Chinese hacking group that gained access to State Department emails also obtained personal and political emails for Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., the congressman announced Monday.
Bacon announced on X that the FBI notified him of the infiltration into his personal and campaign emails. He said the hackers had access to the accounts for nearly a month.
"I thank the FBI for notifying me that the CCP hacked into my personal and campaign emails from May 15th to June 16th of this year. The CCP hackers utilized a vulnerability in the Microsoft software, and this was not due to ‘user error,’" Bacon wrote.
"Thus, there were other victims in this cyber operation. The Communist government in China are not our friends and are very active in conducting cyber espionage. I’ll work overtime to ensure Taiwan gets every $ of the $19B in weapons backlog they’ve ordered, and more," he added.
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The Chinese hacking group that gained access to State Department emails also obtained personal and political emails for Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., he announced Monday. (Getty Images)
The U.S. disclosed the larger alleged China spy operation in mid-July. The alleged spying operation is believed to have compromised hundreds of thousands of U.S. government emails.
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U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was among those hacked. He and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, are believed to be the two most senior State Department officials targeted. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo was also among those targeted, U.S. officials told The Washington Post.
U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns was among those whose computers were hacked. He and Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, are believed to be the two most senior State Department officials targeted. (Photo by Sha Hanting/China News Service via Getty Images)
"The Department of State detected anomalous activity, took immediate steps to secure our systems, and will continue to closely monitor and quickly respond to any further activity," a State Department spokesperson said after the discovery.
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"As a matter of cybersecurity policy, we do not discuss details of our response and the incident remains under investigation," the spokesperson added. "The Department of State has a robust cyber security program to protect our systems and information and works continuously to build resilience and stay ahead of malicious actors. We continuously monitor our networks and update our security procedures."
Microsoft gave details of a Chinese hack that affected the U.S. government. (Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
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Relations between the U.S. and China remain rocky, though Secretary of State Antony Blinken went forward with a trip to the country last month.
Fox News' Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/gop-congressman-chinese-spies-state-department-hack-infiltrated-emails