US Data Breach – 21 Million Affected

Katherine Archuleta  director of the Office of Personnel Management

Katherine Archuleta, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, resigned under pressure (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The US government’s competence in ITsecurity is under heavy scrutiny due to the most extensive US data breach in history.

“Such incompetence is inexcusable,” said Jason Chaffetz, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman. The Republican politician is right, unfortunately: one cannot grasp the fact that 21 million people’s personal details have been accessed. According to CTV, the hackers hijacked health histories, Social Security numbers, criminal and residency records and other extremely delicate data.

 

As gamers, we automatically think of online casino security and wonder whether our personal details are safe. Fortunately, online casinos use the latest forms of cyber protection, so the threat is small, albeit present. CTV reports that this is the second US data breach this year and by far the worst; at first, the government reported that 4.2 million people were affected. Turns out, with the latest hack-attack, this total has reached – and passed – the 20 million mark.

 

The US data breach is frightening unacceptable

 

Of course, the Republicans are on a roll thanks to this horrifying incident; they want Katherine Archuleta, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management ad her top aides to resign.

Jason Chaffetz

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (Photo: Huston Style Magazine)

Jason Chaffetz said that Archuleta “consciously ignored the warnings and failed to correct these weaknesses.” But, adhering to what she said during a conference call with reporters, it seems like she will do no such thing (unless she is forced.) According to CTV, the US government still hasn’t revealed who is behind the attacks.

 

CTV stated that Michael Daniel, the President’s cybersecurity co-ordinator, wasn’t too forthcoming with information, either: “Just because we’re not doing public attribution does not mean that we’re not taking steps to deal with the matter,” he said. Some members of the government point to China (which denied involvement in the matter.) Government officials claim that thus far, the stolen information hasn’t been used. But how can this be securelyverified? More than 21 million people’s information was stolen. This isn’t some small online gambling trick, it is about citizen’s lives and private matters.

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