Chinese state-sponsored hackers broke into the computers of senior US Treasury Department leaders as part of a recent breach of the agency, according to a US official and another person familiar with the matter.

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.