UPDATE: According to CNN just moments ago, this wasn’t just the work of ‘hackers’, but rather the Chinese government:
Investigators believe that the massive breach of the federal data system was carried out by the Chinese government, a law enforcement and U.S. official told CNN.
Sounds like an act of war, but I’m sure Obama will just still be fast friends with them.
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Here’s another great example of government competence – if you work for the federal government, Chinese hackers might be buying stuff on Amazon with your stolen identity as we speak!
From the Washington Post:
Chinese hackers breached the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management in December, officials said Thursday, and the agency will notify some 4 million current and former federal employees that their personal data may have been compromised.
The hack was the second major intrusion of the agency by China in less than a year.
OPM, using new tools, discovered the breach in April, said officials at the agency who declined to comment on who was behind the hack.
Other U.S. officials, who spoke on conditions of anonymity because it is an ongoing investigation, identified the hackers as being from China.
The data potentially exposed included employees’ job assignments, performance ratings and training, the officials said. The breach did not involve background or clearance investigations, they said.
“Certainly, OPM is a high value target,” said OPM Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour, in an interview. “We have a lot of information about people, and that is something that our adversaries want.”
With that understanding, she said, within the last year “OPM has undertaken an aggressive effort to update our cybersecurity posture, adding numerous tools and capabilities to our networks. As a result of adding these tools, we were able to detect this intrusion into our networks.”
These idiots are in charge of our security from all foreign threats. Feel safe now?