China email hacks included accounts of House member

A House lawmaker says his personal and political emails had been stolen by the same suspected Chinese hackers that breached the inboxes of the U.S. State and Commerce departments.

“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.”” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), a member of the House Armed Services Committee, posted Monday on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.

“Thus, there were other victims in this cyber operation,” he added. “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.”

The Washington Post first reported Bacon’s disclosure.

The revelation comes about a month after it was reported that Chinese hackers broke into the emails of a group of senior U.S. officials, including Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.

Last week the Homeland Security Department announced its Cyber Safety Review Board would examine the breach, an investigation that could put more spotlight on Microsoft.

The tech giant’s products have become ubiquitous within the federal systems over time; however, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have begun to question the government’s reliance on the company.