According to reports, it seems that data held by the Office of Personnel Management have been breached by hackers, potentially compromising about 4 million personnel records in the process. The FBI is currently investigating the matter and while no suspects have been officially named or have stepped forward to claim responsibility, US officials have an idea who might be behind it.The officials believe that hackers based in China could be behind the hack but this has yet to be confirmed as the investigation is still underway. A statement made by the FBI reads, “We take all potential threats to public and private sector systems seriously, and will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
The breach was originally reported back in April and the Office of Personnel Management worked with both the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, but it was only in May that Homeland Security determined that information had been stolen in the breach. When asked to comment on the matter, the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond.
According to the Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta, “We take very seriously our responsibility to secure the information stored in our systems, and in coordination with our agency partners, our experienced team is constantly identifying opportunities to further protect the data with which we are entrusted.”