WASHINGTON — Congressional Budget Office confirmed on Thursday that it had been hacked, potentially exposing sensitive government data to attackers.
The small government agency, which employs about 275 people, provides objective and unbiased analysis to support lawmakers during the budget process. He is required to create cost estimates for nearly every bill approved by a House or Senate committee, and will weigh in early when lawmakers ask to do so.
Caitlin Emma, a CBO spokeswoman, said in a written statement that the agency “identified the security incident, took immediate action to contain it, and implemented additional monitoring and new security measures to further protect the agency's systems in the future.”
The Washington Post was the first to write a story about the CBO hack, saying the intrusion was carried out by a suspected foreign actor, citing four anonymous people familiar with the situation.
The CBO has not confirmed whether the data breach was committed by a foreign entity.
“The incident is under investigation and congressional work continues,” Emma said. “Like other government agencies and private sector organizations, CBO experiences threats to its network from time to time and continually monitors efforts to address those threats.”
CBO manages multiple, massive data sources that span a variety of policy issues—from the Trump administration mass deportation plansto unprecedented implementation broad tariffs This summer, legislation was passed to implement massive tax and spending cuts in countries around the world.
