Mr. Blinken canceled a trip to China during that episode, then publicly accused China a few weeks later of considering sending military aid to Russia for use in Ukraine.
One senior State Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive incident said the hack did not initially appear to be directly related to the trip.
Other officials cautioned that the investigation into what material, if any, was stolen by the hackers was still in the early stages.
In a statement on Wednesday, the State Department said that after detecting “anomalous activity” the government took steps to secure the systems and “will continue to closely monitor and quickly respond to any further activity.”After the State Department reported the hack to Microsoft, the company found that the hackers had also targeted some 25 organizations, including government agencies.
Microsoft, which described the attack as hackers going after specific accounts rather than carrying out a broad-brush intrusion, did not say how many accounts it believes might have been compromised by the Chinese hackers.
Persons:
Janet L, Yellen, John Kerry, Biden, Xi, Blinken
Organizations:
Washington, Pentagon, Mr, State Department, Microsoft
Locations:
Beijing, China, Bali , Indonesia, United States, Russia, Ukraine