Data Breach at DC Health Link Exposed Personal Information of House Members and Staff

The chair of the Speaker of the House sits empty at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 5, 2023. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

The House of Representatives’s Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) sent a letter saying there was a data breach impacting members of the House and their staff.

CAO Catherine Szoindor stated in a letter that the U.S. Capitol Police and DC Health Link had informed her office of a “significant data breach” that occurred on or before March 8.

The breach reportedly exposed the personal identifiable information (PII) of thousands of DC Health Link enrollees.

“As a member or employee eligible for health insurance through the DC Health Link, your data may have been comprised [sic],” Szoindor said in her letter to House members and staff.

“Currently, I do not know the size and scope of the breach but have been informed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) that account information and PII of hundreds of member and House staff were stolen.”

Szoindor said she expected to compile a list of those affected soon and notify the individuals whose information was stolen directly. Additionally, DC Health Link would likely contact the enrollees.

“It is important to note that at this time, it does not appear that Members or the House of Representatives were the specific target of the attack,” Szoindor said. “Speaker McCarthy and Democratic Leader Jeffries have formally requested additional information from DC Health Link on what data was taken, who was impacted, and what steps they are taking—including providing credit monitoring protections—to protect House victims of this breach.”

Szoindor advised House members and staff to freeze their and their family’s credit at the three major credit bureaus “out of an abundance of caution.”

Upon request for more details, a CAO spokesperson told The Epoch Times, “We are deeply concerned about DC Health Link’s data breach and the impact on our Members and staff. We will continue to communicate any updates we receive from law enforcement to impacted Members and staff.”

The letter ended with the officer assuring recipients that they will be updated when more information is available.

Reports broke within days of one another that the FBI, the Pentagon and the United States Marshal’s service suffered data leaks, as The Epoch Times previously reported.

The FBI told The Epoch Times in a Feb. 19 report that it “is aware of the incident and is working to gain additional information.” They went on to assert that it was “an isolated incident that has been contained” and that there was an “ongoing investigation” into the matter.

On Feb. 22, it was reported that the Department of Defense email server reportedly leaked internal military communications inadvertently across the internet for almost two weeks before an independent cybersecurity researcher discovered it.

On Feb. 28, a report was released that the United States Marshals Service suffered a “major” security breach where hackers broke into the computer system and accessed sensitive information about employees and investigative targets.