China-based hackers are suspected of breaking into the
computer networks of the U.S. government personnel office
and stealing identifying information of at least 4 million
federal workers, American officials said Thursday.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement
that data from the Office of Personnel Management and the
Interior Department had been compromised.
4 million current and former federal employees may have
had their personal information hacked.
The agency, which conducts background checks, warned it
was urging potential victims to monitor their financial
statements and obtain new credit reports.
U.S. officials believe this could be the biggest breach ever
of the government's computer networks.
"The FBI is conducting an investigation to identify how and
why this occurred," the statement said.
An assessment continues and it is possible millions more
government employees may be impacted.
American investigators believe they can trace the breach to
the Chinese government. Hackers working for the Chinese
military are believed to be compiling a massive database of
Americans, intelligence.
A U.S. official, who declined to be named because he was
not authorized to publicly discuss the data breach, said it
could potentially affect every federal agency. One key
question is whether intelligence agency employee
information was stolen. Former government employees are
affected as well.
"This is an attack against the nation," said Ken Ammon,
chief strategy officer of Xceedium, who said the attack fit
the pattern of those carried out by nation states for the
purpose of espionage. The information stolen could be used
to impersonate or blackmail federal employees with access
to sensitive information, he said.
It is not clear what the purpose of the database is.
Employees of the legislative and judicial branches, and
uniformed military personnel, were not affected.
The FBI is now investigating what exactly led to the breach.
"We take all potential threats to public and private sector
systems seriously, and will continue to investigate and hold
accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace," the
FBI said in a statement.
The federal personnel office said "personally identifiable
information" had been breached, though didn't name who
might be responsible.
Source: CNN
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