Remember the Office of Personal Management breach in Washington DC last week? This breach seems to be the dubious gift that keeps on giving.
According to a federal employee union called American Federation of Government Employment, last week’s hack attack was worse than originally reported. These hackers, allegedly from China, got into SF-86 forms. What’s so special about SF-86 forms, you ask? These documents contain personal and sensitive information about federal government employees and their families, even interactions with foreign visitors and nationals. You see, SF-86 forms are needed for background checks for every federal employee. So imagine the many social security numbers, birthdays, addresses, emails, phone numbers, spouse info, child info, and mothers’ maiden names the potential cyber crooks would have. It turns out their Einstein security system isn’t so hot either. It took months for the hack to be discovered. To this day, not even President Obama himself really knows who pulled the breach off. If Einstein is top of the line security, then why did it take so long for the breach to be revealed? And why don’t we know who the culprits are and where they came from? Back to these SF-86 forms. These forms contain psychology evaluations, financial information, credit reports, criminal records, even marriage/relationship/sexual history. Can you say blackmail?
This is what makes this, and other hacks like this, dangerous. This and the fact that nobody has been held accountable. Still not concerned? This may not be the work of a geek thief in momma’s basement. This could be the work of an international government that doesn’t like us very much. I guess this is how we have to treat hacking, or any cyber crime these days. I‘m just glad this issue is getting the press it deserves. It’s on every major network and Internet site now. Will this press lead to action?