U.S. Congressman Don Bacon, a Republican representative from Nebraska, announced that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alerted him of a security breach by Chinese spies into his email account.
Bacon took to the social media platform X (previously known as Twitter) to inform the public that his accounts had been compromised by the Chinese Communist Party for approximately a month, ending on June 16th. He further noted that the intrusion was due to a “vulnerability in Microsoft software.” This appears to allude to a massive cyber-attack campaign unveiled by Microsoft last month. Reports indicate that this campaign involved the theft of hundreds of thousands of emails from high-ranking U.S. officials, including U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and the U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.
Earlier, CNN had reported that email accounts within the House of Representatives were also targeted in the same cyber campaign. On the X platform, Bacon stated, “There were other victims in this cyber operation. The Communist government in China is not our friend and is highly active in electronic espionage.”
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Both the FBI and Microsoft have yet to issue a statement.
Bacon, elected to Congress in 2016, is a former Brigadier General in the Air Force and currently serves on the House Armed Services Committee. This committee plays a pivotal role in determining the annual budget for the U.S. military and its expenditure plans.
