Personal information of members of Congress exposed in health data breach

Members of the House of Representatives and their staffers were informed Wednesday their personal data may have been compromised due to a "significant data breach" by DC Health Link, a health insurance marketplace.

In a letter to House staff obtained by NPR, Catherine Szpindor, the chief administrative officer for the House, said the size and scope of the breach is currently unknown, but the FBI said "that account information and PII (Personal Identifiable Information) of hundreds of Member and House staff were stolen."

Updated March 9, 2023 at 2:46 PM ET

"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," Szpindor said in the letter.

She advised those affected to freeze their family's credit through all major credit bureaus.

The Senate Sergeant at Arms was also informed by law enforcement of the DC Health Link data breach, although it appears to be more limited for those who work in the Senate.

In a memo sent to all Senate email account holders that was obtained by NPR, users were told that the breach did not include personally identifiable information beyond names, email, date of enrollment and family relationship to those affected.

In a statement, DC Health Link said it has "initiated a comprehensive investigation" and is working with forensic investigators and law enforcement.

"Concurrently, we are taking action to ensure the security and privacy of our users' personal information. We are in the process of notifying impacted customers and will provide identity and credit monitoring services," the statement read. "In addition, and out of an abundance of caution, we will also provide credit monitoring services for all of our customers."

At his weekly press conference Thursday morning, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy are "going to continue to work on this issue in a bipartisan way, get to the bottom of what happened, figure out the implications of what has occurred."

"It will have an adverse impact on hundreds, if not thousands, of staff members, their families, and/or the people of the District of Columbia, and that is highly problematic," Jeffries said.

NPR's Claudia Grisales and Kaitlyn Radde contributed to this report. [Copyright 2023 NPR]