The U.S. State Department’s unclassified email system was taken offline over the weekend for security improvements, a scheduled event, but officials conceded suspicious activity had been previously detected, according to media reports.

A department official said “activity of concern” was discovered around the same time the White House’s network was attacked in late October, according to the Associated Press, which first reported the incident.

Parts of the department’s public website were also shut down, although no classified systems were affected, according to The Washington Post. The shut down, which started late Friday, had been scheduled in order to make improvements to the main unclassified computer network, the AP reported.

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