The U.S. arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China - or ICBC - became the latest victim of hackers demanding a ransom.

The attack disrupted trade in the U.S. Treasury market on Thursday (November 9)

ICBC Financial Services is the U.S. unit of China's largest commercial lender by assets.

It said it was investigating the attack that disrupted some of its systems, and that it was making progress towards recovering from it.

The Chinese government weighed in on Friday (November 10) through foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin.

"According to our understanding, the ICBC has been closely monitoring the matter and has done its best in emergency response and supervisory communication to minimise the risk impact and loss."

Wang said business was normal at ICBC head office and other branches and subsidiaries around the world.

ICBC further said it had successfully cleared Treasury trades executed on Wednesday (November 8), and repurchase agreements financing trades done on Thursday.

But some market participants said trades going through ICBC were not settled due to the attack and affected market liquidity.

Ransomware attacks often involve hackers locking a victim organization's systems.

And they demand ransom for unlocking it, while often stealing sensitive data for extortion.

Several ransomware experts said a cybercrime gang named Lockbit was believed to be behind the hack.

Lockbit did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. authorities have struggled to stop a number of cybercrimes, mainly ransomware attacks, which hit hundreds of companies in nearly every industry each year.