Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The US House of Representatives faced a surge in cyber threats in 2025, with officials saying its websites were hit by 3 billion malicious attacks and staff received 178 million potentially harmful emails.
The scale of the threat was outlined during a House Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the fiscal year 2027 budget request for the legislative branch, where senior House officers pressed for increased funding to strengthen cybersecurity and modernise internal systems.
Acting Chief Administrative Officer Anne Dressendorfer Binsted said the volume of attacks underscored the urgency of investment in cyber defence. “That’s almost 30,000 intrusion attempts during this brief statement alone,” she told lawmakers.
The Chief Administrative Officer’s office has requested $253 million for fiscal 2027, an increase of 8.5 per cent over the previous year. Binsted said 80 per cent of the increase would go towards sustaining operations, including personnel, hardware, software and licences, while 20 per cent would fund new high-priority projects.
Among the key initiatives is the expansion of multi-factor authentication across devices used by members and staff. The House currently operates about 55,000 desktops, laptops and mobile devices, many of them used outside Washington, creating what Binsted described as “an endpoint vulnerability”.
Another proposal involves building a secure cloud environment where customised artificial intelligence tools can be tested using House data without exposing it to external risks. House Sergeant at Arms William McFarland said cybersecurity now sits at the top of his office’s priorities as well.
House Clerk Kevin McCumber highlighted ongoing efforts to modernise legislative operations and improve efficiency.
