Chinese Hackers Infiltrated Government Emails, State Department Confirms

The State Department confirmed Wednesday that a number of employee emails were compromised in a hack stemming from China. 

Details: On Tuesday, Microsoft released a report detailing that “China-based” hackers “gained access to email accounts affecting approximately 25 organizations including government agencies as well as related consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with these organizations.” This specific hack reportedly began in May, with Microsoft opening an investigation the following month. Reports indicate the hack was not a broad-brush infiltration of networks, but instead targeted specific emails and individuals. 

Key Quotes: A State Department spokesman said in a statement, “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. As a matter of cybersecurity policy, we do not discuss details of our response and the incident remains under investigation.”

How the Media Covered It: The New York Times (Lean Left bias) framed the hack as part of a larger intelligence battle between China and the United States, while the Wall Street Journal (Center bias) framed it as a one-sided attack by China. This was mostly the case in coverage from The Washington Times (Lean Right bias) as well, but the final paragraph of the article did note that China countered the news by deeming the reports of the hack to be “a distraction from the U.S. government’s offensive cyber operations.”