Speaker Pelosi And Boehner Send Letter To CAO On Protecting House Web Sites From Being Hacked
Legislators request 'immediate and comprehensive
assessment of how hackers were able to deface the websites of nearly fifty House Members and Committees'WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Speaker Nancy Pelosi and
Republican Leader John Boehner sent the following letter this afternoon to Chief
Administrative Officer Daniel Beard requesting "an immediate and comprehensive
assessment of how hackers were able to deface the websites of nearly fifty House
Members and Committees last night."
The full text of the letter is below.
January 28, 2010
The Honorable Daniel P. Beard
Chief Administrative Officer
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Beard:
We request that you initiate an immediate and comprehensive assessment of how
hackers were able to deface the websites of nearly fifty House Members and
Committees last night.
In the past, we jointly requested that your office review and tighten
cybersecurity protections designed to ensure that congressional offices and
committees are safeguarded from unauthorized intrusions. We appreciate the
efforts you and your cybersecurity team have taken to tighten firewalls, as well
as more recent efforts to ensure that official mobile communications devices are
secure from hacking and other intrusions.
However, last night's actions indicate that further review of security
procedures are needed. From initial reports, these intrusions appear to be
related to one website vendor which has had previous security failures. While
many Members have expressed satisfaction with the vendor in question, this is
the second time in a year websites hosted and supported by this vendor have been
compromised. We therefore request that your office work with the Committee on
House Administration to review the security standards for House vendors and to
assess whether this vendor, and others, have adhered to those standards. We also
request that you take immediate action to protect against breaches of the House
firewalls and to ensure website security of all House offices.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
----------
NANCY PELOSI JOHN BOEHNER
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Speaker Republican Leader
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Cc: The Honorable Robert A. Brady
Chairman, Committee on House Administration
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The Honorable Dan Lungren
Ranking Member, Committee on House Administration
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