Pelosi, Boehner Call for Probe Into Hackers
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) have directed Chief Administrative Officer Dan Beard to do “an immediate and comprehensive assessment— of how hackers were able to deface the Web sites of dozens of Members of Congress on Wednesday.In the hours after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, hackers replaced the text on 49 House.gov Web sites with the message, “F*** OBAMA!! Red Eye CREW !!!!! O RESTO E HACKER !!!— It was hours before House officials took down the sites and replaced them with a generic House.gov page. The company GovTrends manages all the affected Web sites, and it’s not the first time they’ve been hacked. In August, a hacker who goes by “3n_byt3— replaced the text on about 20 sites with “H4ck3d by 3n_byt3 @ Indonesia H4ck3rs.—In their letter, Pelosi and Boehner express concern that “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,— Pelosi and Boehner write in their letter. “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.—In October, House leaders requested a review on the chamber’s cybersecurity protections after a House ethics document was leaked. Beard completed that review — and submitted recommendations — just weeks ago.But Wednesday’s defacements, Pelosi and Boehner write, “indicate that further review of security procedures are needed.—