WASHINGTON, Dec 10 (Reuters) - The United States

sanctioned a Chinese cybersecurity company over an ambitious

cyberattack that U.S. Treasury officials say could have killed

people.

The Treasury said in a statement on Tuesday that the

Chengdu-based Sichuan Silence Information Technology Company and

one of its employees, Guan Tianfeng, deployed malicious software

to more than 80,000 firewalls run by thousands of companies

worldwide in April 2020.

The malicious software not only stole data, it was used to

deploy ransomware, which paralyzes corporate networks by

encrypting data. The statement said three dozen firewalls were

protecting the systems of critical infrastructure companies and

that, had the hacking not been thwarted or mitigated, the

potential impact "could have resulted in serious injury or loss

of human life."

In particular, the statement said that an energy company

targeted in Sichuan Silence's hacking campaign was "actively

involved in drilling" during the attack. Had it not been

thwarted, the statement said, "it could have caused oil rigs to

malfunction."

No further details about the incident were provided. Reuters

could not immediately locate contact information for Guan.

Sichuan Silence has previously been accused of involvement

in malicious digital activity. In 2021 Facebook and Instagram's

parent company, Meta Platforms ( META ), alleged that the firm

was linked to an online influence campaign that promoted claims

of a phony biologist who said the United States was interfering

in the search for the origins of COVID-19.

Beijing routinely denies being a party to hacking and other

malicious cyber activity.