The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday imposed sanctions on alleged hacker Yin Kechen and cybersecurity company Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., accusing both of being involved in a series of hacks against American telecom companies.
The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in US is sanctioning Yin Kecheng, a Shanghai-based cyber actor who was involved with the recent Department of the Treasury network compromise.
Additionally, OFAC is sanctioning Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology Co., LTD., a Sichuan-based cybersecurity company with direct involvement in the Salt Typhoon cyber group, which recently compromised the network infrastructure of multiple major U.S. telecommunication and internet service provider companies. People’s Republic of China-linked (PRC) malicious cyber actors continue to target U.S. government systems, including the recent targeting of Treasury’s information technology (IT) systems, as well as sensitive U.S. critical infrastructure.
As highlighted in the most recent Office of the Director of National Intelligence Annual Threat Assessment, Chinese state-backed cyber actors continue to present some of the greatest and most persistent threats to U.S. national security.
“The Treasury Department will continue to use its authorities to hold accountable malicious cyber actors who target the American people, our companies, and the United States government, including those who have targeted the Treasury Department specifically,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Adewale O. Adeyemo.
This designation follows a series of recent Treasury sanctions actions aimed at combatting increasingly reckless cyber activity by the PRC and PRC-based actors, including the January 3, 2025 designation of Integrity Technology Group, Inc. for its role in Flax Typhoon malicious cyber activity, the December 10, 2024 designation of Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company, Ltd. and one of its employees for dangerous firewall compromises, and the March 25, 2024 designation of Wuhan Xiaoruizhi Science and Technology Company, Ltd. and two of its employees as Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) 31 malicious cyber actors. These all represent dangerous cyber activities directed at the United States, its partners, and allies.
The U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting at the direction or under the control of a foreign government, engages in certain malicious cyber activities against U.S. critical infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. More information about this reward offer is located on the Rewards for Justice website.
