Who Is Responsible?
Official says that hackers appear to be the same chinese hackers who attacked Anthem Insurance.
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently became aware of a cybersecurity incident affecting its systems and data that may have compromised the personal information of current and former Federal employees. Four million current and former government employees data have been compromised by hackers.
The gathered information’s can be used in numerous ways. Putting agents at risk, or identifying who has clearance for another attack.
The extent of personal data stolen makes this attack an order of magnitude greater than any we have seen of its kind in the past,” said California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee who was briefed on the attack.
Chinese government has said that they have been victim of cyber attacks as well.
China itself is also a victim of cyberattacks… China resolutely tackles cyberattack activities in all forms
Cyberattacks conducted across countries are hard to track, and therefore the source of attacks is difficult to identify. Jumping to conclusions and making (a) hypothetical accusation is not responsible and counterproductive
What was stolen?
- Social security numbers.
- Bank informations, birthdays, addresses, personal data
- Sensitive data from current and former employees, security Clearance, background checks
Beginning June 8 and continuing through June 19, OPM will be sending notifications to approximately 4 million individuals whose Personally Identifiable Information was potentially compromised in this incident… In order to mitigate the risk of fraud and identity theft, OPM is offering affected individuals credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance with CSID,
Identity theft is one thing I’m concerned about,” said Bryan Sivak, a former technology officer with the Department of Health and Human Services.
But depending on what information was accessed, I’m more worried about this information being used to illegally access various networks or against individuals directly.
