No taxpayer data was affected in the recently discovered hack affecting federal networks but several Treasury Department officials’ email accounts were compromised, according to Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat.
Following a briefing to the Senate Finance Committee on Monday, Mr. Wyden said in a statement that the IRS said it had no evidence that it was compromised or that taxpayers’ personal information was affected.
“According to Treasury staff, the agency suffered a serious breach, beginning in July, the full depth of which isn’t known,” Mr. Wyden said in a statement. “Microsoft notified the agency that dozens of email accounts were compromised. Additionally the hackers broke into the Departmental Offices division of the Treasury, home to the department’s highest-ranking officials. Treasury still does not know all of the actions taken by the hackers, or precisely what information was stolen.”
Mr. Wyden also said that the breach of federal networks seemed to involver hackers stealing encryption keys from federal government servers, and noted that federal government officials had clamored for backdoors in encrypted networks despite warnings from federal officials.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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