Chinese hack of federal personnel files included security-clearance database
First it was four million.
Then it was every single federal employee..
Then retired employees..
Then veterans..
Then veterans’ families.
And now this according to reporting at the WASHINGTON POST BY
The Chinese breach of the Office of Personnel Management network was wider than first acknowledged, and officials said Friday that a database holding sensitive security clearance information on millions of federal employees and contractors also was compromised.
In an announcement, OPM said that investigators concluded this week with “a high degree of confidence” that the agency’s systems containing information related to the background investigations of “current, former and prospective” federal employees, and others for whom a background check was conducted, were breached.
And it’s not just current people who may need to worry.
“This is potentially devastating from a counterintelligence point of view,” said Joel Brenner, a former top counterintelligence official for the U.S. government, speaking about the latest revelation. “These forums contain decades of personal information about people with clearances . . . which makes them easier to recruit for foreign espionage on behalf of a foreign country.”
Decades of information.
Decades of clearances..
Decades..