A US agency was reportedly breached last month, compromising the personal information of more than 6,000 employees to hackers.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office reported that it was by its IT service contractor CGI Federal that a data breach accessed information from both current employees and former workers from 2007 to 2017.
Other businesses contracted with GAO during the time period may also be affected. The data breach was reported to have occurred on Jan. 17, Wednesday. Reuters first reported the incident.
It is uncertain whether the breach was a direct attack on GAO or made via CGI's servers.
CGI also provides IT protection for "100 participating agencies," including the State, Justice, Commerce, and Labor departments, according to Reuters.
CGI has yet to provide a public statement regarding the data breach.
More Cyberattacks on US Gov't Agencies
The threat of a government shutdown has been looming over the past year as more and more government agencies are hit by cyberattacks.
Many of the reported attacks have been attributed to Russian- or China-backed cybercriminal groups, most of which supposedly work with the state's intelligence groups.
The tension between the three nations has been flaring up as the war between Ukraine and Russia continues.
With the rise of AI-powered tools, cybersecurity experts warn of more targeted attacks on state agencies and critical facilities around the US.
The past month has already seen several attempts to shut down critical services like water access and internet.
This is not to include the ransomware attacks happening to government-contracted businesses as cyberattacks become more sophisticated and rampant.
Related Article : FBI Attributes Increasing Cyber Attacks to AI
Gov't Actions Hits Back on Bot Networks
So far, the US government has started hitting back on bot networks associated with the previous cyberattacks.
The Justice Department announced just last month that it is taking steps in "defending our critical infrastructure" from future cyberattacks.
Other intelligence departments have also started employing more AI technologies and AI experts to boost its operability and protection from similar incidents.
