U.S. says data on 4 million government staff hacked

Hackers breached the computer system of the U.S. government agency that collects personnel information for federal workers, compromising the data of about 4 million current and former employees, U.S. officials said on Thursday. Authorities suspect the cyber attack originated in China, according to media reports, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had launched a probe and would hold the culprits accountable. The data breach involved the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the human resources department for the federal government that handles security clearances and employee records.

The last few months have seen a series of massive data breaches that have affected millions of Americans.

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

A U.S. official who declined to be identified said the data breach could potentially affect every federal agency. One key question is whether intelligence agency employee information was compromised. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are said to be carrying out an investigation. Officials refused to assign attribution or motive, but pointed affected parties to measures that could prevent fraud and identify theft.

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