Lawmakers angered over Border Patrol

Lawmakers are expressing alarm and demanding answers over a recent data breach involving U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the latest in a series of incidents that is underlining the severity of cybersecurity threats to both agencies and businesses.

The CBP incident involved a subcontractor of the agency, who had stored photos from a CBP database, being breached by a malicious actor. The breach resulted in the exposure of images of as many as 100,000 people entering and exiting the U.S. over the period of a month and a half.

CBP, which is not revealing the name of the subcontractor involved, told The Hill that it is working with Congress and with its own Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate the data breach.

The agency stressed that the subcontractor involved had transferred the photos to its own systems “in violation of CBP policies and without CBP’s authorization or knowledge.” And the agency said that no identifying information was included with the photos.

Lawmakers want to hear more: But those assurances did little to assuage lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers from both parties have expressed dismay over the breach and committees in both the House and Senate with jurisdiction over the agency were considering further actions.

Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told The Hill that while he is interested in looking into the CBP breach, he wants to make sure he has “all the facts” before moving forward.

“Right now it’s just about getting a better sense of exactly what happened, how it happened, and then we’ll figure out appropriate steps to take from that point forward,” Peters said. “We never like breaches, they should never happen, but it shows we have to harden our defenses.”

A spokesperson for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, declined to comment. But across the Capitol, lawmakers are looking more closely into the government’s collection of data on travelers.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) announced that his committee would hold hearings next month to examine the collection of biometric information by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which includes CBP.

Thompson also noted that he wants to ensure “we are not expanding the use of biometrics at the expense of the privacy of the American public.”

Homeland Security Committee ranking member Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), used the breach to criticize DHS’s handling of cybersecurity challenges, saying in a statement to The Hill that “the agency is ill-equipped to handle emerging cyberthreats.”