US Library of Congress email system has been hacked

The US Library of Congress’ email systems were hacked by a “foreign adversary” earlier this year, Fox News reported.

It’s unclear whether the accounts of people who work directly for the House and Senate were compromised. However, Fox News has learned that the US Capitol Police have referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which is now investigating the scope of the hack.

The Library of Congress has notified affected congressional staff in both the House and Senate, which included offices of both Republican and Democratic officials.

“The Library of Congress recently discovered a cyber breach of the library’s information technology environment that allowed an adversary to gain access to electronic communications between January and September 2024 by library staff and Congressional offices,” Library of Congress spokesman Bill Ryan told Fox News.

“The Library has fixed the vulnerability that the adversary exploited to gain access to these emails and has taken steps to prevent similar incidents in the future. The Library has referred the matter to law enforcement and is conducting its own analysis of the breach,” he added.

The Library of Congress, for its part, added that the House and Senate networks, including personal House and Senate emails, were not affected, nor were the systems of the U.S. Copyright Office.

“The Library is currently analyzing what email communications were accessed and will contact the affected Congressional staff and offices to provide additional information as it becomes available,” the Library of Congress said.

According to Fox News, the attack is being described as “classic, foreign hostile sophisticated espionage.” That means the hacker likely tried to understand what questions lawmakers and their aides were asking the Library of Congress about legislation and the answers they received. If successful, such espionage could shed light on lawmakers’ views on certain topics.

The hackers are believed to have targeted the Library of Congress because it is a less heavily protected target than the rest of Congress and does not have the more sophisticated systems that other members of Congress use to protect themselves from cyber espionage.