(AP) WASHINGTON - A confidential weekly report of the House ethics committee found its way to an Internet site in a case of "cyber-hacking," the committee’s chairwoman said Thursday.

The report from last July contains a summary of the committee’s work at the time, but Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., the panel’s chairwoman, said no inferences should be made about anyone whose name is mentioned.

The committee makes a public announcement when it begins an investigation of potential rule-breaking, which is conducted by an investigative subcommittee whose members also are made public.

However, the weekly reports include a summary of the committee’s work at an earlier stage, when its members and staff scrutinize lawmakers to see whether an investigation is warranted.

The Washington Post reported the document was disclosed on a publicly accessible computer network and made available to the newspaper by a source familiar with such networks.

Lofgren assured lawmakers that their appearance on the report does not signify any wrongdoing.

The committee’s task is to "explore extraneous matters that come to our attention, a stray newspaper article, a comment involving members and staff, to make sure that there is nothing serious in the course of doing that.

"No inference should be made as to any member. We might have a newspaper article that we look at. There is nothing to it, but we have to make sure that that is the case."

Lofgren referred to the breach as "a cyber-hacking incident."

Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the evenly divided committee, also assured lawmakers that no inference can be made that anyone named in the document is under investigation.

He said someone’s name could be in the report if they made a routine inquiry to seek committee approval for travel.