HHS suffered a cyberattack on March 15 as the organization works to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, sources close to the matter told Bloomberg.
Hackers attempted to slow the agency’s systems. While it’s unclear who was behind the attack, HHS officials said the hackers tried to overload HHS’ servers with millions of hits over the span of several hours.
In response to the cyberattack, the National Security Council tweeted that all rumors of a national quarantine are fake. Officials believe the hackers began to release false information about the COVID-19 outbreak.
“Text message rumors of a national #quarantine are FAKE. There is no national lockdown. @CDCgov has and will continue to post the latest guidance on #COVID19,” the tweet read.
HHS said that there is no evidence that data was accessed from its systems. The National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command leaders are investigating the incident.