Hackers Attempt to Hold Capitol Hill Data for Ransom

The House is under attack by hackers hoping to infiltrate congressional computers, encrypt their contents, and then force users to pay a ransom to get their access back. “In the past 48 hours, the House Information Security Office has seen an increase of attacks on the House Network using third party, web-based mail applications such as YahooMail, Gmail,” the House’s Technology Service Desk wrote in an e-mail to House staffers on April 30. According to the e-mail obtained by The Intercept, the hacked e-mails impersonate familiar people and invite staffers to download an attachment laced with malware — what’s known as a “phishing” attack. “When a user clicks on the link in the attack e-mail, the malware encrypts all files on that computer, including shared files, making them unusable until a ‘ransom’ is paid,” the e-mail said. But House administrative offices refused to say how many if any attacks have been successful, what sort of data may have been affected, or how much has been paid in ransom, if anything.

“The potential for ransomware attacks the House faces is similar to any large organization,” a spokesman for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House wrote in a statement to The Intercept. “The House recognizes the importance of taking steps to employ a cyber security plan to protect our infrastructure, and we constantly work to improve training and education for all House users.” A lockdown on parts of the House internet network — from Wi-Fi to Ethernet — remains ongoing.