Hundreds of US House members and staff had their personally identifiable information stolen in a breach of a DC health care insurance service, the House chief administrative officer told lawmakers Wednesday in a letter obtained by CNN.
The FBI is investigating the “significant data breach,” which occurred Tuesday and potentially involved thousands of enrollees in the DC Health Link marketplace, House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine Szpindor told lawmakers in the letter.
“It is important to note that at this time, it does not appear that Members or the House of Representatives were the specific target of the attack,” Szpindor wrote.
The FBI and DC Health Link did not immediately return requests for comment.
“We are deeply concerned about DC Health Link’s data breach and the impact on our Members and staff. We will continue to communicate any updates we receive from law enforcement to impacted Members and staff,” a CAO spokesperson said in a statement.
The Committee on House Administration Republicans tweeted that Chairman Bryan Steil “is aware of the breach” and is working with Szpindor “to ensure the vendor takes necessary steps to protect the (personally identifiable information) of any impacted member, staff, and their families.”
The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, told CNN the data breach is “egregious” and that the FBI discovered it because the information ended up on the “dark web.”
He said in addition to investigating what happened, Congress needs to figure out how to allocate more resources so those who contract with the government can better protect this type of information.
Punchbowl News first reported on the incident.
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