The email account of Gina Raimondo, Joe Biden’s commerce secretary, was reportedly among those hacked in a recent Chinese cyber attack. According to Microsoft, which ran the accounts, the espionage campaign ran from May 15 to June 16 – a month of tense diplomacy between the US and China ahead of Anthony Blinken’s visit to Beijing. To note: Raimondo has been at the forefront of US export controls of semiconductor technology. The State Department, congressional staffers, think tanks and agencies in western Europe were also reportedly targeted in the attack. State Department specialists flagged the attack, and then flagged the flaw in Microsoft’s cloud system to the company in June. Did the hackers find anything? The FBI say no – classified information wasn’t taken. But alarm bells will be ringing on the Hill in case of more successful intrusive Chinese cyber attacks in the future.
US commerce secretary’s emails hacked by China