It is now estimated that data belonging to up to 14 million current and former US government employers may have been exposed by the attack on the Office of Personnel Management. Some analysts have since referred to the breach as the digital equivalent of Pearl Harbor.
The initial figure was placed at around 4 million, the realization that more American's may have had their data compromised by foreign hackers has amplified the embarrassment already felt by US security agencies. The updated estimate is based on the understanding that attackers also had access to the information of veterans and retired personnel, information going back to the 1980s.
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."
Cox went on to state that the union fear information on military records, veterans' status, address, date of birth, job and pay history, health insurance, life insurance, pension information, age, gender and race data has been exposed.
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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment