Source: National Cyber Security – Produced By Gregory Evans
The shadowy hackers that stole more than 21 million Social Security numbers in a huge breach of federal personnel files have created an ongoing cyber headache, experts warn, citing the data’s value to both criminals and cyber spies. “It’s tremendously valuable from a criminal perspective. It could also be tremendously valuable from an intelligence perspective — if these people have security clearances,” Reginald Hyde, executive director of the Cyber Institute at the University of Alabama, told FoxNews.com. “[The hack] could be to use that information to target people for some sort of intelligence.” The Office of Personnel Management confirmed the scale of the data breach Thursday in a statement on the investigation into a pair of major hacks believed carried out by China. “The team has now concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases,” it wrote. “This includes 19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants, predominantly spouses or co-habitants of applicants.” The statement also confirmed that some records include findings from interviews conducted by background investigators and approximately 1.1 million include fingerprints. OPM Director Katherine Archuleta resigned […]
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