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The US government has admitted hackers accessed the personal data of at least four million current and former federal employees, in a vast cyberattack that is suspected to have originated in China.
"As a result of the incident," uncovered in April, the Office of Personnel Management has said it "will send notifications to approximately four million individuals". It added that additional exposures "may come to light".
The government's personnel department handles hundreds of thousands of sensitive security clearances and background investigations on prospective employees each year.
It was not immediately clear whether the hack affected President Barack Obama, other senior government officials or the intelligence community.
The Washington Post and other US media cited government officials as saying that Chinese hackers were behind the breach.
China yesterday labelled as "irresponsible" reports that it was behind a massive hack of personal data of millions of current and former US federal employees.
"Cyberattacks are generally anonymous and conducted across borders and their origins are hard to trace," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing. "Not to carry out a deep investigation and keep using words such as 'possible' is irresponsible and unscientific."
The Chinese embassy in Washington said such attacks would not be allowed under Chinese law.
"Jumping to conclusions and making hypothetical accusations is not responsible and counterproductive," embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan said.
"Chinese laws prohibit cybercrimes of all forms. China has made great efforts to combat cyberattacks in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations."
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are said to be leading the investigation. The FBI in a statement said it "will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace".
Obama has ranked China and Russia's cyberattack capabilities as "very good", Iran's as "good" and North Korea's as not "particularly good".
In a recent white paper, Beijing said it would "expedite the development of a cyberforce" within the People's Liberation Army. The United States has voiced an increasingly strident tone about cyberattacks in recent months.


China denies hacking data on four million US government staff