U.S. Justice Department says its emails were breached by SolarWinds hackers

FILE PHOTO: The SolarWinds logo is seen outside its headquarters in Austin, Texas, U.S., December 18, 2020. REUTERS/Sergio Flores/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday its email systems were accessed by the hackers who broke into software company SolarWinds, another indication of the gravity of the breach that has shaken Washington.

The scale of the hack at the Department of Justice was not immediately clear but it could be significant. The department, which has more than 100,000 employees across a series of law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the U.S. Marshals Service, said in a statement that 3% of its Office 365 mailboxes were potentially accessed.