'China-linked' hackers stole data on every US federal employee, union claims
Hackers stole personnel data and identity numbers for every US federal employee, a government worker union said, adding that the cyber theft was more damaging than the Obama administration has acknowledged.
Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic leader, said on the Senate floor that the December hack into Office of Personnel Management data 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. US officials have declined to publicly blame China, which has denied involvement.
The union’s release on Thursday and Reid’s comment in the Senate put into sharper focus what is looking like a massive cyber espionage success by China. Senator Susan Collins, an intelligence committee member, has also said the hack came from China.
US intelligence officials say China, like the US, spies for national security advantage. Unlike the US, 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 US company has been hacked from China, they say.
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.
J. David Cox, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a letter to OPM director Katherine Archuleta that based on OPM’s internal briefings, “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 one million former federal employees.”
