Originally posted by the Voice of America.
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     Suspected Chinese Hackers Stole Data on Millions of US Federal Workers

   by VOA News

   U.S. officials say hackers in China launched a massive cyberattack on
   the federal agency responsible for collecting background information
   on, and issuing security clearances for millions of government
   employees.

   The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said Thursday as many as 4
   million current and former federal employees may have been affected. It
   said that number could go higher as the investigation continues.

   Law enforcement officials say they believe China-based hackers,
   possibly with links to the Chinese government, were behind the attack,
   believed to be the most extensive breach of federal employee data in
   years.

   A Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington, Zhu Haiquan, said China
   outlaws cyber warfare, saying "jumping to conclusions and making
   hypothetical accusations is not responsible and counterproductive."

   The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, California's Adam
   Schiff, said this attack is most shocking "because Americans may expect
   that federal computer networks are maintained with state of the art
   defenses."

   OPM says it detected the security breach in April before it took what
   it calls an "aggressive effort" to implement tougher controls. It says
   the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security
   are investigating to determine the full extent of the damage.

   The FBI says it takes all threats to public and private sector cyber
   systems seriously and will hold those who make such threats
   accountable.

   It is not clear if specific government employees were targeted, or if
   the hackers simply swept up large amounts of employee data for later
   use. Officials would also not say what type of information was accessed
   or stolen.

   As the human resources office of the federal government, OPM is seen as
   a high-value hacking target. Its computers store sensitive employee
   information such as social security numbers, payroll data, job
   performance and family information.

   OPM said it will notify all current and ex-federal employees whose
   information may have been compromised. The agency will offer those
   workers access to credit reports and monitoring, and identity theft
   recovery services at no cost.

   The OPM cyberattack may be the biggest, but is not the first time
   hackers gained access to federal government computer systems.

   Unclassified computers at the White House and State Department have
   been hit. Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. central military
   command were also struck.

   The Internal Revenue Service, which is responsible for tax collection,
   said last month that hackers stole information on 100,000 U.S.
   taxpayers.

   Cyber warriors have also attacked such commercial giants as the Sony
   Pictures movie studio, Target and Home Depot stores, the EBay on-line
   auction site, and JP Morgan Chase bank.

   Some of the attacks have been blamed on North Korea, Russia and China.
   Experts say China is desperate to get its hands on U.S. industrial and
   trade secrets. China angrily denies the accusations and says it has
   been targeted by U.S. hackers.

   The U.S. last year charged five Chinese military officers with hacking
   into and stealing trade secrets from the computers of several large
   American nuclear, metal and solar companies.

   China denounced the indictment and suspended a series of discussions
   with the U.S. to combat cyber crimes.
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   on-millions-of-us-federal-workers/2808586.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/suspected-chinese-hackers-stole-data-on-millions-of-us-federal-workers/2808586.html