Report Says Hackers Have Personal Data of Every U.S. Federal Employee

Edited by Juan Leandro
2015-06-13 15:25:34

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Washington, June 13 (RHC)-- A new report shows that hackers have managed to access Social Security numbers and all personal information of every U.S. federal employee.  The security breach, which is the worst during the Barack Obama administration, was reportedly carried out by Chinese hackers, a U.S. government worker union told the Associated Press.

According to the AP, the hackers now have military records and veterans' status information, address, birth date, job and pay history, health insurance, life insurance and pension information; and age, gender and race data.  The union says that the damage caused due to the cyber theft is much worse than what U.S. President Barack Obama has acknowledged.

J. David Cox, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees, issued a letter to the Office of Personnel Management, saying that "We believe that Social Security numbers were not encrypted, a cybersecurity failure that is absolutely indefensible and outrageous."

"Based on the sketchy information OPM has provided, we believe that the Central Personnel Data File was the targeted database, and that the hackers are now in possession of all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to one million former federal employees."

In addition, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security has recently accused China of engaging in a data breach that targeted four million U.S. federal employees.  "All the threat indicators point to the fact that it is China because of the way it was done," Representative Michael McCaul told reporters in Washington.

Last week, U.S. officials said hackers had broken into the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management, gaining access to the data of some 2.7 million current government workers and about 2 million retired workers.

However, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has announced that the accusations against Beijing are false and totally irresponsible.




 



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