Chinese hackers collected information on U.S. security clearance applicants

Chinese hackers collected information on U.S. security clearance applicants

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cyberChinese government hackers last March broke into the computer networks of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, the agency which keeps the personal information of all federal employees. The hackers targeted the information of tens of thousands of employees who had applied for top-secret security clearances.

Officials told the New York Times that the Chinese hacking was discovered and the hacking blocked. The scope of the hacking, and the amount of information the hackers were able to gather, are yet to be determined.

DHS spokesman confirmed that the breach had occurred, but that “at this time,” neither OPM nor DHS had “identified any loss of personally identifiable information.”

According to HomeLand Security News Wire all the efforts by the United States to persuade, deter Chinese government agencies from attacking U.S. government and corporate computer networks have failed. The attempt to use the legal system has also proved futile. “There’s no price to pay for the Chinese,” one senior intelligence official told the Times, “and nothing will change until that changes.”