China-Linked Hack of Federal Agency Exposed Up To 14 Million, Including Veterans
Friday,
12 Jun 2015 12:27 PM
s
many as 14 million current and former civilian U.S. government employees had
their personal information exposed to hackers, according to two people who were
briefed on the investigation, a far higher figure than the 4 million the Obama
administration initially disclosed.
The
newer estimates put the number of compromised records at between 9 million and
14 million going back to the 1980s, said one congressional official and one
former U.S. official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because information disclosed in the confidential briefings includes
classified details of the investigation.
There
are about 4.2 million federal employees, so the majority of the records exposed
relate to former employees. Contractor information also has been stolen,
officials said.
The
latest revelation came a day after a major union said the cyber theft is more
damaging than it first appeared, asserting that hackers stole personnel data and
Social Security numbers for all the federal workers in a central personnel
database.
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The
Obama administration had acknowledged that up to 4 million current and former
employees whose information resides in the Office of Personnel Management server
are affected by the December cyber breach, but it had been vague about exactly
what was taken.
But
J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said
in a letter Thursday to OPM director Katherine Archuleta that based on
incomplete information OPM provided to the union, "we believe that the Central
Personnel Data File was the targeted database, and that the hackers are now in
possession of all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal
retiree, and up to 1 million former federal employees."
The
OPM data file contains the records of most federal civilian employees, though
not members of Congress and their staffs, members of the military or staff of
the intelligence agencies.
The
union believes the hackers stole military records and veterans' status
information, address, birth date, job and pay history, health insurance, life
insurance, and pension information; and age, gender and race data, he said.
Also
Thursday, Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic Senate leader, said that the
hack was carried out by "the Chinese" without specifying whether he meant the
Chinese government or individuals. Reid is one of eight lawmakers briefed on the
most secret intelligence information. U.S. officials have declined to publicly
blame China, which has denied involvement.
The
union, which does not have direct access to the investigation, said it is basing
its assessment on "sketchy" information provided by OPM. The agency has sought
to downplay the damage, saying what was taken "could include" personnel file
information such as Social Security numbers and birth dates.
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"We
believe that Social Security numbers were not encrypted, a cybersecurity failure
that is absolutely indefensible and outrageous," Cox said in the letter. The
union called the breach "an abysmal failure on the part of the agency to guard
data that has been entrusted to it by the federal workforce."
Samuel
Schumach, an OPM spokesman, said that "for security reasons, we will not discuss
specifics of the information that might have been compromised."
Schumach
did, however, address Cox's comment on encryption. "Though data encryption is a
valuable protection method, today's adversaries are sophisticated enough that
encryption alone does not guarantee protection," he said. "OPM does utilize
encryption in some instances and is currently increasing the types of methods
utilized to encrypt data."
The
central personnel data file contains up to 780 separate pieces of information
about an employee.
Cox
complained in the letter that "very little substantive information has been
shared with us, despite the fact that we represent more than 670,000 federal
employees in departments and agencies throughout the executive branch."
The
union's release and Reid's comment in the Senate put into sharper focus what is
looking like a massive cyber espionage success by China. Sen. Susan Collins,
R-Maine, an Intelligence Committee member, has also said the hack came from
China.
Mike
Rogers, the former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said last week
that Chinese intelligence agencies have for some time been seeking to assemble a
database of information about Americans. Those personal details can be used for
blackmail, or also to shape bogus emails designed to appear legitimate while
injecting spyware on the networks of government agencies or businesses Chinese
hackers are trying to penetrate.
U.S.
intelligence officials say China, like the U.S., spies for national security
advantage. Unlike the U.S., they say, China also engages in large-scale theft of
corporate secrets for the benefit of state-sponsored enterprises that compete
with Western companies. Nearly every major U.S. company has been hacked from
China, they say.
The
Office of Personnel Management is also a repository for extremely sensitive
information assembled through background investigations of employees and
contractors who hold security clearances. OPM's Schumach has said that there is
"no evidence" that information was taken. But there is growing skepticism among
intelligence agency employees and contractors about that claim.
.
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Date:
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6/12/2015
3:22:08 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time
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