The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed Thursday it had been hacked, saying it was taking action to contain the fallout.
“The Congressional Budget Office has identified the security incident, has taken immediate action to contain it, and has implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems going forward,” CBO spokesperson Caitlin Emma said in a statement.
“The incident is being investigated and work for the Congress continues. Like other government agencies and private sector entities, CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats.”
The statement follows a report from The Washington Post that officials suspected a foreign actor was behind the attack, risking insight into lawmakers’ communications with nonpartisan staff.
The CBO evaluates the financial impact of legislation, including “scoring” a bill on how much it would impact the national debt.
According to the Post, the hackers may have accessed emails as well as chat logs at the CBO.
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