The Congressional Budget Office confirmed this week that it is experiencing an “ongoing” cybersecurity incident – one that, in all likelihood, has been going on for days and remains unresolved.
Politics first reported the breach, noting that CBO officials are still assessing the full scope of the breach and what data, if any, may have been compromised.
The nonpartisan agency, which provides cost estimates and budget analyzes to Congress, said it has added new monitoring systems and safeguards as the full investigation continues.
The CBO has not said whether sensitive information was stolen or who may be behind the attack Associated press reported. Officials also declined to specify how long the agency’s systems have been affected.
Reuters added that Senate offices had been alerted by the chamber’s Sergeant at Arms that email communications with the CBO may have been exposed, potentially giving hackers an opportunity to spoof messages or make phishing attempts.
That advisory urged congressional staff to treat any CBO-related email traffic with extra caution until the incident is fully contained.
While the agency maintains its work for lawmakers continues uninterrupted, the duration of the breach has raised questions about whether CBO’s analytical models and data pipelines could have been tampered with.
Experts told the Associated Press that a breach described as “in progress” indicates that researchers are still pursuing active threats within the network rather than cleaning up a completed breach.
The incident comes at a sensitive time for Congress, with budget debates, spending battles and shutdown negotiations all depending on the CBO’s projections to guide votes and policy.
Reuters noted that the longer such breaches continue, the greater the risk that attackers can map internal systems, gather intelligence or set up backdoors for later use.
The Washington Post reported that early assessments indicate a possible foreign actor, although officials have not publicly attributed the breach to a specific country or group.
In a statement, the CBO said it is “continuously monitoring” for cyber threats and took “immediate action” to secure its systems as soon as the incident was discovered.
Still, this episode has renewed scrutiny of cybersecurity preparedness at federal agencies – especially those, like the CBO, that do not handle classified data but remain critical to day-to-day government operations.
Lawmakers from both parties are calling for a briefing once the investigation is complete, emphasizing the need for stronger digital defenses and clearer reporting protocols.
For now, the agency that monitors Washington’s balance sheets is struggling to balance its own: between transparency and vulnerability, between public trust and private exposure.
In a city obsessed with leaks, this one hits a little too close to the ledger.
This article originally appeared on The Western Journal.
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