Republican lawmakers are swiftly urging the Treasury Department to provide answers on a recent cybersecurity attack from China that infiltrated various workstations, as outlined in

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., on Tuesday sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding answers after Chinese hackers breached the U.S. Treasury Department.

The cyberattack reported earlier this week reached into the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the Office of Financial Research, sections of the agency that oversee economic penalties against other nations and their citizens.

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.

Chinese government hackers targeted the U.S. Treasury’s highly sensitive sanctions office during a December cyberattack, according to reports. According

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.