Cotton, Wyden Want Senators to Be Alerted to Cyber Breaches

Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., are asking the Senate Sergeant at Arms to alert lawmakers to any cyber breaches of Senate computers.

The two made the request in a letter to Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger. Details of their request were disclosed by The Hill.

Currently there is no requirement in Congress to reveal any breaches.

"Hackers continue to target all manner of government entities, and there is little doubt that Congress is squarely in their sights," they said in the letter. "The Sergeant at Arms must be transparent in providing members of the Senate all information about the possible existence and scale of successful hacks against the Senate.

"Each U.S. Senator deserves to know, and has a responsibility to know, if and how many times Senate computers have been hacked, and whether the Senate's existing cybersecurity measures are sufficient to protect both the integrity of this institution and the sensitive data with which it has been entrusted."

Wyden revealed last year that hackers had targeted personal email accounts of multiple senators and members of their staff.

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