The U.S. Congressional Budget Office Faces Cybersecurity Incident

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has confirmed that it recently experienced a cybersecurity incident, allegedly at the hands of a foreign hacker. This breach has potentially exposed sensitive data within the agency’s network.

According to CBO spokesperson Caitlin Emma, the agency acted swiftly upon discovering the security breach. Measures have been taken to contain the incident, including the implementation of additional monitoring and security controls to safeguard the agency’s systems moving forward.

Emma reassured that the incident is under investigation, and despite the cybersecurity challenge, the work at the Congress continues. CBO, like other government entities, faces network threats periodically and remains vigilant in addressing them.

Reports suggest that the breach was detected recently, raising concerns about the potential exposure of emails and exchanges between congressional offices and CBO analysts. This has led some congressional offices to cease email communication with the agency as a precautionary measure.

The CBO, a nonpartisan agency, plays a crucial role in providing economic analysis and cost estimates for proposed legislation to lawmakers. A breach in the agency’s security could expose sensitive information such as draft reports, economic forecasts, and internal communications.

Government Agencies Targeted by Cyber Attacks

The attack on CBO is part of a series of cyber incidents that have plagued government agencies in recent times. In December 2024, the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed a breach through a third-party remote support platform, BeyondTrust. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) also fell victim to the same attackers.

The perpetrators behind these attacks have been identified as the Chinese state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group known as Silk Typhoon. This group gained notoriety in early 2021 for exploiting the ProxyLogon zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server, compromising thousands of servers before security patches were issued.

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