Chinese hackers infiltrate US Ambassador to China’s emails: Report

Hackers with ties to Beijing penetrated email accounts belonging to the US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, and assistant secretary of state for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink, according to multiple reports.

Both Burns and Kritenbrink, are believed to be the highest-ranking State Department officials known to have been victims of the attack, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“For security reasons, we will not be sharing additional information on the nature and scope of this cybersecurity incident at this time,” a State Department spokesperson told The Post when asked about the hack.

“The Department continuously monitors and responds to activity of concern on our networks. Our investigation is ongoing, and we cannot provide further details at this time.”

CNN confirmed the Wall Street Journal report.

Notably, Kritenbrink accompanied Secretary of State Antony Blinken on his diplomatic travel to Beijing last month.

Specifics about what the cyber intruders may have obtained from the incursion were not entirely clear on Thursday.

So far there haven’t been public reports indicating Blinken’s account was breached.

Outside the State Department, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo’s email account also fell prey to the cyber breach, according to multiple reports.

Last week, the State Department and Commerce Department publicly acknowledged that their email systems were breached in the cyber campaign.

Microsoft disclosed details of the attack in a blog post that described the culprit as a “China-based actor.”

The software firm alleged the hackers gained access to email accounts across approximately 25 organizations but did not identify them.

Microsoft said it learned of the hack on June 16, 2023, and that further investigation revealed the attack commenced on May 15, 2023. The tech giant noted that it had “completed mitigation of this attack for all customers.”

Taking credit for informing Microsoft of the breach, the State Department declined to immediately confirm whether the perpetrator was a “China-based actor.”

Moreover, the State Department also did not disclose whether any classified material had been compromised.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department explained that Microsoft informed it of the cyber intrusion and stressed it “took immediate action to respond.”

By Microsoft’s timeline, the email breach would have been discovered just hours before Blinken departed for China for his two-day summit in Beijing that commenced on June 17.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller declined to state whether Blinken was aware of the hack before embarking on his trip.

That trip had been postponed from its original date in February due to controversy over the Chinese spy balloon hovering through US airspace from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

Kritenbrink and Burns attended meetings with top Chinese officials and President Xi Jinping, per the Wall Street Journal.

Blinken brought up the cyber breach during a discussion with Chinese diplomat Wang Yi last week, an official told CNN.