Chinese hackers gained remote access to several U.S. Treasury Department workstations and unclassified documents after compromising a third-party software provider, BeyondTrust.

The breach, discovered on December 8, allowed hackers to steal a security key used to remotely assist Treasury employees, but there is no evidence of continued access to Treasury information.

The incident is under investigation as a major cybersecurity breach.

The Treasury Department is working with the FBI and other agencies, while attributing the hack to Chinese state-sponsored actors, the Associated Press has reported.

China denied the allegations, calling them groundless.

Written by B.C. Begley