4 Million Identities Compromised As China Hacks U.S. Government

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