The US Treasury Department told lawmakers in a letter back in December that its documents and workstations were accessed by an external party in a security breach. It described the attack as "a major cybersecurity incident" and attributed it to a "China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat actor." Now, The Washington Post has reported that the bad actors infiltrated a "highly sensitive office" within the Treasury in charge of deliberating and administering US government sanctions.As The Post explains, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is in possession of some important information that could be very useful to another country's government. While the hackers were only able to steal unclassified data, they could still have gotten their hands on the identities of potential sanction targets. They could also have stolen pieces of evidence that the agency had collected as part of its investigation on entities that the government is thinking of sanctioning. Overall, the attackers could have gotten enough information to give them the knowledge of how the US develops sanctions against foreign entities.In addition to OFAC, the Office of the Treasury Secretary and the Office of Financial Research were also affected by the breach. The attackers infiltrated the Treasury's systems by gaining access to a key used by BeyondTrust, a cloud-based service that provides the department with technical support.The US government has attributed numerous cyberattacks on its agencies and American companies to China state-sponsored actors over the years. Just last year, the FBI blamed "PRC-affiliated actors" for a massive hack on US telecom companies. The actors, a group known as Salt Typhoon, reportedly targeted the mobile devices of diplomats, government officials and other people linked to both presidential campaigns. According to The Post, Chinese officials called claims that their country was involved in the attack on the Treasury Department "groundless" and insisted that their government "has always opposed all forms of hacker attacks."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/china-linked-attack-on-us-treasury-department-reportedly-targeted-its-sanctions-office-150033082.html?src=rss

Comments by Igor Pavlov on the file compression software's page on the Sourceforge.net repository seemingly put an end to the saga - for now?

From new TV show trailers to some DC movie reveals, here are the biggest news stories you missed over the 2024 holiday season.

The US DoJ has issued a final rule to prevent the mass transfer of US citizen data to hostile nations.

Cryptocurrencies rose to start the year, rebounding from recent losses as investor optimism returned to the market.

Tesla's fourth-quarter deliveries report follows a huge late-year rally in the stock that lifted its gain for 2024 to 63%.

CNBC is now accepting nominations for the 2025 Disruptor 50 list our annual look at the most innovative venture-backed companies.

The U.S. Commerce Department said on Thursday it is considering new rules that would impose restrictions on Chinese drones that would restrict or ban them in the United States citing national security concerns.The department said it was seeking public comments by March 4 on potential rules to safeguard the supply chain for drones, saying threats from China and Russia may offer our adversaries the ability to remotely access and manipulate these devices, exposing sensitive U.S. data.China accounts for the vast majority of U.S. commercial drone sales.In September, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the department could impose restrictions similar to those that would effectively ban Chinese vehicles from the United States and the focus will be on drones with Chinese and Russian equipment, chips, and software.She told Reuters in November she hopes to finalize the rules on Chinese vehicles by Jan. 20.A decision to write new rules restricting or banning Chinese drones will be made by the administration of President-elect Donald Trump, who takes over on Jan. 20.Washington has taken a series of steps to crack down on Chinese drones over the last year.Last month, President Joe Biden signed legislation that could ban China-based DJI and Autel Robotics from selling new drone models in the U.S. An unspecified U.S. agency must determine within one year if drones from DJI or Autel Robotics pose unacceptable national security risks.DJI, the worlds largest drone manufacturer that sells more than half of all U.S. commercial drones, said if no agency completes the study it would prevent the company from launching new products in the U.S.In September, the House of Representatives voted to bar new drones from DJI from operating in the U.S.In October, DJI sued the Defense Department for adding it to a list of companies allegedly working with Beijings military, saying the designation is wrong and has caused the company financial harm.DJI told Reuters in October that Customs and Border Protection was stopping imports of some DJI drones from entering the United States, citing the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. No forced labor is involved at any stage of its manufacturing, DJI said.U.S. lawmakers have repeatedly raised concerns that DJI drones pose data transmission, surveillance, and national security risks, which the company rejects. Congress in 2019 banned the Pentagon from buying or using drones and components manufactured in China.Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Christian Schmollinger

U.S. exchange-traded funds could face more obstacles to their runaway growth in 2025 after a bumper year saw the products take in a record $1.1 trillion in inflows in 2024.The inflows were the most in the products 35-year history and came close to doubling last years figure of $597 billion.Analysts attribute the popularity of the products to a combination of the bull market in the U.S., where the lions share of ETFs is based, the advent of innovative cryptocurrency and options-based products, and the growing preference by investors for lower-cost, liquid ETFs over mutual funds.Now, while many believe ETFs will top 2024s records in 2025, they are cautiously eyeing a new set of challenges ranging from how to navigate an increasingly crowded ETF arena to the ever-present question of innovation.I find myself thinking that new product development may have outstripped investor interest in some of the most complex of these strategies, said Bryan Armour, ETF analyst at Morningstar. Not every product will land with investors.Indeed, one of Armours projections for 2025 is that the market is likely to see a record number of ETFs closing down. While asset managers shuttered some 186 funds in 202491% of which had less than $250 million in assetsArmour expects that figure to soar next year above the record of 253 set in 2023.There has been so much product development, and a lot of ETFs wont survive to reach profitability simply because they dont have anything unique enough and appealing enough to pull in assets, Armour said.According to Cerulli Research, 2023 was the first year that saw the average lifespan of an ETF decline, and by early 2024 it had already fallen below five years.Firms realize they have to be faster at closing down funds that dont attract assets and at redeploying their resources, said Matt Apkarian, associate director at Cerulli.Still, industry insiders say there are many reasons to be bullish about an industry that globally jumped to $14 trillion in assets as of Dec. 27, from $11.6 trillion as of December 31, 2023, according to industry research and consulting firm ETFGI.The number of new ETFs launched, including a dozen spot bitcoin products, reached 714 by the last full week of the year, said Matthew Bartolini, head of SPDR Americas Research at State Street Global Advisors. That compares to 543 launches in 2023 and 480 in 2021.The explosion in the number of ETFs can be traced in part to the surge in interest for products that use options to manage, limit, or even accentuate risk. The proliferation of buffer and defined outcome ETFs, which use options to trade off upside potential for downside risk, or to hit a target return, is one of the biggest features of 2024.Well be venturing into that market in the first quarter of 2025 with a buffered ETF product, said Brendan McCarthy, global head of ETF distribution and capital markets at Goldman Sachs Capital Management.The two-year-old GraniteShares 2x Long Nvidia ETF, which offers investors double the daily return on Nvidia, rose 177% in 2024, attracting more than $3.5 billion in new assets during the year to bring total assets to nearly $6 billion.Theres no reason to think that $1 trillion isnt the new normal for inflows, said David Mann, global head of ETF product and capital markets at Franklin Templeton, who is marking his 22nd year developing new exchange-traded funds. This has been a one-way train ride, and now the train is on the express track.Reporting by Suzanne McGee; editing by Megan Davies and Alistair Bell

Nine out of 10 new cars sold in Norway last year were powered by battery only, registration data showed on Thursday, placing the country within reach of its target of only adding cars that are electric on the road by 2025.Fully electric vehicles accounted for 88.9% of new cars sold in 2024, up from 82.4% in 2023, data from the Norwegian Road Federation (OFV) showed.Top-selling brands were Tesla, followed by Volkswagen and Toyota. Chinese EVs now account for almost 10% of new car sales.Norway will be the first country in the world to pretty much erase petrol and diesel engine cars from the new car market, said Christina Bu, head of the Norwegian EV association.Carrot-and-stick approachOil-producing Norway penalizes petrol and diesel cars with high taxes, while exempting EVs from import and value-added taxes to make them more attractive, although some levies were reintroduced in 2023.The policy has worked because it has been consistent over time, maintained by governments of various political persuasions, experts said.Very often we see in other countries that someone puts tax incentives or exemptions and then they pull back again, Bu said.Also helpful is the fact that Norway does not have an automaker lobby.We are not a car-producing country . . . so taxing cars highly in the past was simple, said Ulf Tore Hekneby, head of Norways biggest car importer, Harald A. Moeller.Having incentives, rather than banning petrol and diesel cars, was crucial, too, said Bu. That would (have) made people angry. People dont like being told what to do, she said.The European Union has decided to ban sales of carbon-dioxide-emitting cars by 2035, but it may allow sales of cars that run on fuels made from captured CO2.Norways policies mean that fully electric cars last year overtook pure petrol cars on Norwegian roads. They accounted for more than 28% of all cars driven in the Nordic country as of December, according to Public Road Administration data.Thats the big lesson: Put together a broad package (of incentives) and make it predictable for (the) long-term, said deputy transport minister Cecilie Knibe Kroglund.ImpactTo be sure, while nearly all new buyers of cars in Norway have gone electric, some hold-outs remain.The main buyers of ICE (internal combustion engine) cars in Norway are rental companies because many tourists are not familiar with EVs, said Hekneby.Still, the rising share of EVs on Norwegian roads means other sectors have to adapt. At fuel stations, more and more petrol pumps are replaced with fast electric chargers.Within the next three years we will have at least as many charging stalls as we have pumps for fuel, said Anders Kleve Svela, a senior manager at Circle K, Norways largest fuel retailer.In just a couple of years more than 50% of all the cars in Norway will be electric. [. . .] We have to ramp up our charging park according to that, he added.For drivers, switching to an EV means it can take a little longer to charge a car in winter due to the cold weather.Sometimes I miss that I just can pump it full and drive off five minutes later, said Desire Andresen, 28, an in-home caregiver, charging her car at a Circle K station outside Oslo.But Im more comfortable with an electric car. [. . .] Its better for the environment and the diesel cars produce so much smell.($1 = 11.0850 Norwegian crowns)Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo. Editing by Gwladys Fouche and Mark Potter