Yahoo's mail app has been blocked in the House of Representatives 'until further notice'

Yahoo's web mail service is no longer welcome at the US House of Representatives - at least for the time being.

The House apparently banned Yahoo Mail on its network following a surge in ransomware attacks said to have a "primary focus" on Yahoo Mail, according to a report in Gizmodo.

The report says the chamber of Congress has been on the receiving end of a number of such attacks, a longstanding hacking technique in which malicious files contained in emails appear to come from known senders. When the recipient clicks on the file, the computer is instantly locked, and all files encrypted, until a ransom is paid. At least one such attack was successful, Gizmodo notes, citing an anonymous source.

An internal memo to all House of Representative staffers obtained by Gizmodo says that access to Yahoo Mail will be blocked until further notice.

The memo notes that the attacks have used various third party email services, including Gmail as well. So it's not clear why the House is only blocking Yahoo Mail.

Yahoo said in a statement to Business Insider that "we take the security of our users very seriously, and we're collaborating closely with House IT staff to ensure that they have the right solutions in place to best protect their accounts."

You can read the Gizmodo piece, including full House internal memo, here.