Sen. Wyden pushes changes to protect senators’ personal accounts from continued threats

A major technology company has been telling senators and their staffers that their personal email accounts were targeted by foreign hackers, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a senior Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, claimed in a letter to leaders. He used the letter to question why the Senate sergeant-at-arms did not have a clear mandate to help protect the personal accounts and devices of senators and their staffers as well as the official ones. “This approach must change to keep up with changing world realities,” Sen. Wyden said in his letter, in which he pointed out that similar personal protections are provided to “high-value targets” at the Pentagon. He stressed that the stakes are particularly high in advance of the midterm elections, noting that “the Senate simply does not have the luxury of further delays.” Wyden’s letter says the office of the sergeant-at-arms believes it is authorized to use its appropriated funds only for official government equipment and accounts.