Thousands of federal passwords exposed since early 2024

A new report from the password management company NordPass is challenging the idea that federal institutions are more secure than local governments against cybersecurity threats. The study, conducted by NordPass and threat exposure management platform NordStellar, found a total of 53,070 passwords belonging to U.S. civil servants were exposed in public sources since the beginning of 2024. Of the impacted institutions, NordPass found the Department of Defense had 1,897 total exposed passwords, 222 of which were unique. The State Department had 15,272 total exposed passwords, 190 of which were unique, while the U.S. Army had 1,706 exposed passwords, 167 of them unique. The Department of Veterans Affairs also ranked among the top five most-affected institutions, with 1,331 total password exposures, 53 of which were unique. Seven passwords of White House employees were also compromised, according to the study. A State Department spokesperson told FedScoop the agency is “committed to cybersecurity across the department.” They said the agency has instituted multi-factor authentication and regularly rotates credentials. A Biden-era director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy slammed the Trump administration’s cuts to research and development funding Wednesday, warning of adverse effects to areas such as artificial intelligence. Arati Prabhakar said during a panel held by Harvard’s Kennedy School: “Today what we are in the middle of is an assault on the public investment in research unlike anything we have seen in our country’s history.” Prabhakar specifically pointed to the Trump administration’s moves to withdraw support from certain projects, its removal of federal workers at research agencies, its attacks on universities, reversal of immigration policies that bring talent to the U.S., and the administration’s budget proposal that sought to cut federal R&D spending by roughly $44 billion. The Daily Scoop Podcast is available every Monday-Friday afternoon. If you want to hear more of the latest from Washington, subscribe to The Daily Scoop Podcast  on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify and YouTube.