The federal government hit Chinese cyber group Integrity Technology Group with new sanctions on Friday, citing alleged computer intrusion incidents against those in the U.S. At the direction of the People’s Republic of China,

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.

After unclassified documents from the US Treasury Department were accessed in a hack blamed on China, many in the cybersecurity community are wondering how such breaches might intensify in the weeks and months ahead.

The attacks appear to have targeted influential individuals, aiming to gather information that could serve the interests of the Chinese government.