US Congressional staff exposed in Library of Congress email hack

Date:
Tue, 19 Nov 2024 16:05:00 +0000

Description:
US Congressional researchers had correspondence compromised by a foreign actor

FULL STORY

Email correspondence to and from staff at the US Library of Congress Congressional Research Service have been compromised by a foreign adversary
in an elaborate hack, reports have claimed.

From January to September 2024, foreign actors have been able to access
emails between congressional legislative staff and researchers, according to NBC News .

It's not yet known exactly how many or which emails were accessed by the hackers, but Congress staff are concerned given the sensitive nature of communications between legislative staff and researchers.

Sensitive information

The Library of Congress is a research library that serves and has dedicated research staff to Congress, responding to over 76,000 inquiries in 2023. The staff offer policy and legal analysis to congressional committees, making it
an invaluable resource.

Because of the nature of the librarys work, it's likely that hackers had
access to preliminary legislative proposals, or got unauthorized access to staffers opinions and ideas. Reports have confirmed that the US Copyright Office was not impacted.

The attack is said to have been carried out by a foreign adversary, although its not clear which nation actor was behind the breach as of yet.
Cyberattacks from the Big Four (Iran, Russia, China, and the DPRK) have all increased dramatically in the run up to the election , so investigators will likely be looking in these directions.

As of yet, the origin of the breach is unknown, but staff have been reminded
of the phishing and email security guidance, suggesting this may have been
the point of origin.

This isnt the first time in recent months Congressional staff have had their data compromised, as in September 2024, it was revealed almost 3,200 US politicians and staff had their data leaked to the dark web, meaning nearly
20% of people working in Congress were exposed.

======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/us-congressional-staff-exposed-in-libra ry-of-congress-email-hack

$$
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)