The Government Shutdown Is a Ticking Cybersecurity Time Bomb

Amid a government shutdown that has dragged on for more than five weeks, the United States Congressional Budget Office said on Thursday that it recently suffered a hack and moved to contain the breach. CBO provides nonpartisan financial and economic data to lawmakers, and The Washington Post reported that the agency was infiltrated by a “suspected foreign actor.”

CBO spokesperson Caitlin Emma told WIRED in a statement that it has “implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency’s systems” and that “CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats.” Emma did not address questions from WIRED about whether the government shutdown has impacted technical personnel or cybersecurity-related work at CBO.

With increasing instability in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) leaving Americans hungry, air traffic control personnel shortages disrupting flights, financial devastation for federal workers, and mounting operational shortages at the Social Security Administration, the shutdown is increasingly impacting every corner of the US. But researchers, former and current government workers, and federal technology experts warn that gaps in foundational activities during the shutdown—things like system patching, activity monitoring, and device management—could have real effects on federal defenses, both now and for years to come.