Unnamed hackers broke into the computer of the U.S. government’s Office of Personnel Management and stole 21 million records. These records included everything recorded in these people’s background checks. Anyone who underwent a check after Jan. 1, 2000, has had his or her data stolen.
The records that were compromised include detailed, sensitive background information, such as employment history, relatives, addresses, and past drug abuse or emotional disorders. OPM said 1.1 million of the compromised files included fingerprints.
The political hack who is in charge of the OPM and also the hack who ran the computer system have not been fired. They are still in charge.
The hack-in-charge was Obama’s political director for his reelection campaign in 2012. Juicy federal plums like these are not surrendered easily . . . or at all.
The woman in charge of the barn after 21 million horses got rustled says that Congress should be proud of the OPM for its [failed] efforts to upgrade the agency’s cybersecurity since she took office in November 2013. “It is because the efforts of OPM and its staff that we’ve been able to identify the breaches,” Archuleta said.
While the OPM did not prevent this breach, it is looking into the problem to see if this can be prevented in the future. But with 21 million records stolen, who cares?
The President cared. He does not like prime time foul-ups. On Friday, she resigned. The President had a little talk with her.
There will be no institutional sanctions. The OPM’s budget will rise next fiscal year. Count on it.
