A hacker recently gained access to email accounts of people associated with Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, which led to private emails and photographs being distributed online.
This high-profile data breach was conducted by a hacker who goes by the name of Guccifer, who said he doesn't fear any repercussions from the FBI or Secret Service, as they have been after him for a while to no avail.
Some of the images that were posted online include one depicting George W. Bush painting and one of George H.W. Bush in the hospital. A few of these photos came from the email account of Dorothy Bush Koch, Bush's sister.
In addition to the pictures, information from emails was also compromised. For example, a list that included home addresses and phone numbers for many relatives of the Bush family was made public. An email from George H.W. Bush's former Chief of Staff, which was written to the Bush children, explaining the former president's funeral team was ready to plan a service if necessary, was also published.
The Secret Service is currently investigating the situation to figure out how the hacker was able to gain access to the Bush's photos and emails.
"We are investigating the incident," U.S. Secret Service spokesman George Ogilvie told the Houston Chronicle. "Beyond that I can't get into anything else."
Texas lawmakers want more focus on data security
In response to the data breach faced by the Bush family, Texas lawmakers have made it clear that more needs to be done to prevent such incidents from occurring again.
"Hacking has become a serious problem," said U.S. Rep. Randy Weber. "Unfortunately, there are those who mean ill will to decent, honest, hardworking Americans. One of the things we first learned in Congress is that there are millions of attempts each year to hack into the federal government's computers."
Weber, a member of the Space, Science and Technology Committee in the House of Representatives, added that he plans to work harder to keep Americans safe from hackers.
Bhavani Thuraisingham, executive director of the Cyber Research and Education Center at the University of Texas at Dallas, told the Los Angeles Times that this type of attack can happen to anyone. It has become a lot easier and much more dangerous in recent years.
To read more about data breaches, check out the IDentity Theft 911 blog.