The federal personnel agency announced Thursday a massive hack.
BY KAVEH WADDELL AND DUSTIN VOLZ
More than 21 million Social Security numbers were compromised in a breach that affected a database of sensitive information on federal employees held by the Office of Personnel Management, the agency announced Thursday.
That number is in addition to the 4.2 million social security numbers that were compromised in another data breach at OPM that was made public in June.
Of the 21.5 million records that were stolen, 19.7 million belonged to individuals who had undergone background investigation, OPM said. The remaining 1.8 million records belonged to other individuals, mostly applicants’ families.
The records that were compromised include detailed, sensitive information about the individuals, including fingerprint data. OPM says 1.1 million compromised files included fingerprints.
Beyond the fingerprints and Social Security numbers, some of the files in the compromised database included “residency and educational history; employment history; information about immediate family and other personal and business acquaintances; health, criminal and financial history; and other details,” OPM said.
https://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/hack-opm-office-personnel-management-cyber-million-20150709