Officials are working to determine the cybersecurity risks that may have affected an unclassified email system at the Pentagon. 

The email system used by the Joint Staff as well as by hundreds of civilian and Defense Department personnel was taken down over the weekend after an unspecified threat was detected, CNN reported Tuesday.

"Joint Staff unclassified networks for all users are currently down," spokeswoman Col. Valerie Henderson told Military Times on Wednesday. "We continue to identify and mitigate cybersecurity risks across our networks. With those goals in mind, we have taken the Joint Staff network down and continue to investigate."

It does not seem likely that classified materials were harmed as a result of the threat, CNN said, quoting a defense official.

U.S. Cyber Command, the central command that heads cyber operations, has begun an investigation; Henderson could not speak to the attack against the department's network.

Henderson said the department's top priority is to restore services as quickly as possible, but did not give a time when the email system would be back online.

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