Sources familiar with the matter revealed that "a cyber intrusion targeted the U.S. Department of Transportation, resulting in the exposure of personal information for up to 237,000 current and former federal employees." The breach focused on the processing systems of the (TRANSFER) transportation program, which covers some costs of government employees' relocations, and it remains unclear whether any of the personal information of employees has been used for criminal purposes.
The Department of Transportation notified Congress, in an email obtained by Reuters, that its initial investigation into the data breach concluded that "the intrusion was limited to certain systems in the department used for administrative tasks, such as processing employee relocation benefits." The department stated in a comment to Reuters that the intrusion "did not affect any transportation safety systems" and did not specify who might be responsible for the breach. It added that it "is investigating the matter and has restricted access to the relocation benefits system until it is secured and operational again."
