http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/09/hack-china-cyberwar-fingerprints-obama
By AJ Vicens
Mother Jones
Sep. 23, 2015
On the eve of Chinese President Xi Jinping's first state visit to
Washington, DC, the Obama administration released alarming new numbers
about one of the biggest computer hacks in American history—traceable,
officials say, to China—a move that could potentially heighten tension
ahead of the historic meeting.
The Office of Personnel Management announced that it had substantially
underestimated the number of people whose fingerprints were stolen during
the attack earlier this year. About 5.6 million of 21.5 million federal
employees, contractors, applicants, and others had their fingerprints
stolen during a hack of the OPM's background check databases, the agency
reported Wednesday morning. That figure is higher than the 1.1 million
previously reported.
An interagency group including the FBI, the Department of Homeland
Security, and the Department of Defense are reviewing how the fingerprint
information could be used in nefarious ways, but it downplayed the
immediate impact. "Federal experts believe that, as of now, the ability to
misuse fingerprint data is limited," the agency said in a statement issued
Wednesday morning, as President Barack Obama and a host of dignitaries
hosted Pope Francis at the White House. "However, this probability could
change over time as technology evolves."
[...]
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