Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a Republican, reportedly said on Tuesday that the FBI had notified him that members of the Chinese Communist Party had hacked his emails.
Following earlier reports that it was believed Chinese hackers had accessed messages from State Department and Commerce Department officials, Bacon made his disclosure.
‘I thank the FBI for notifying me that the CCP hacked into my personal and campaign emails from May 15th to June 16th of this year. The CCP hackers utilized a vulnerability in the Microsoft software, and this was not due to “user error.” Thus, there were other victims in this cyber operation. The Communist government in China are not our friends and are very active in conducting cyber espionage. I’ll work overtime to ensure Taiwan gets every $ of the $19B in weapons backlog they’ve ordered, and more.” he wrote in social media post.
I thank the FBI for notifying me that the CCP hacked into my personal and campaign emails from May 15th to June 16th of this year. The CCP hackers utilized a vulnerability in the Microsoft software, and this was not due to “user error.” (1/2)
— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸 (@RepDonBacon) August 14, 2023
As a representative of the House Armed Services Committee, Bacon has regularly campaigned for increased exports of American military hardware to Taiwan. He claimed that Taiwan needs the supplies to “deter” any action from China.
Officials initially learned of the government agencies’ hacking in June, and the information was first made public in July.
The intrusion also exposed the communications of the U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burn and the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink.
The White House released a framework in March that addressed the need for improved cybersecurity and cautioned that China, North Korea, Russia, and Iran were all attempting to improve their cyber capabilities.
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