Foreign hackers breach U.S. Congressional Budget Office – WaPo

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has been hacked by a suspected foreign actor in a breach that may have exposed internal communications and research used to guide federal legislation, according to a report from The Washington Post.

The incident was discovered in recent days and is now under investigation by federal authorities, according to the Post. Officials said they are concerned that communications between lawmakers’ offices and the CBO’s nonpartisan analysts may have been accessed, along with internal email and chat logs, according to the report.

In a brief statement, the CBO confirmed the security breach and said it “has identified the security incident” and “taken immediate action to contain it.” No further details were released.

The CBO, which provides independent economic and budget analysis for Congress, handles sensitive information that can influence legislation and financial projections, making it a potential target for state-sponsored cyber operations. It remains unclear who is behind the breach or how much data may have been compromised.

A similar incident in December 2024 involved a state-sponsored Chinese hacking operation that infiltrated the U.S. Department of the Treasury through a third-party software provider. In that case, hackers accessed unclassified workstations, prompting a federal response involving the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).

Officials have not publicly linked the CBO breach to any previous intrusion.