In late July 2015, the Census Bureau (the Bureau) experienced an attack on the Federal Audit Clearinghouse (FAC). The FAC is used to collect single audit packages from state and local governments, non-profit organizations, and Indian tribes who expend Federal awards. The FAC was compromised through a configuration setting that allowed the attacker to gain access to the four files posted to the hacker’s site.
The FAC site does not store any confidential household or business data collected by the Bureau and Personally Identifiable Information was not compromised during the attack. According to the Bureau, that information remains safe, secure and on an internal network segmented apart from the external site and the affected database. Since this attack, the FAC has been offline and undergoing an IT investigation.
Due to this attack, as of August 17, 2015, the due date for data collection forms has been extended. Audit reports and forms with due dates from July 22, 2015 to September 30, 2015, are automatically extended to be due October 31, 2015.
For more information or to discuss the impact on your organization, please contact Megan Crane at mcrane@deandorton.com or 859.425.7643 or Simon Keemer at skeemer@deandorton.com or 502.566.1036.