The Government Shutdown Is a Ticking Cybersecurity Time Bomb

"implemented additional monitoring and new security controls to further protect the agency's systems"

"CBO occasionally faces threats to its network and continually monitors to address those threats."

"If everything was set up properly, then the cloud offers an important baseline of security, but it's hard to rest easy during a shutdown knowing that even in the best of times there are problems getting security right."

The Congressional Budget Office recently detected and contained a cybersecurity breach while the federal government remains in a multiweek shutdown. The agency supplies nonpartisan economic and budget information to lawmakers and reported a suspected foreign actor infiltrated its systems. The CBO implemented additional monitoring and security controls and acknowledged periodic network threats, but declined to say whether the shutdown affected technical staff or cybersecurity work. The prolonged shutdown has created operational gaps across federal programs — including SNAP, air traffic control, federal pay, and Social Security Administration services — and experts warn that paused patching, monitoring, and device management can weaken long-term federal defenses.

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