Hackers Stole Data of All Fed Workers – Past, Present

Mounting evidence suggests Chinese hackers have personal information on every federal employee going back as far as three decades, according to the American Federation of Government Employees.

The union says the hackers targeted the central personnel data file of the government's Office of Personnel Management. It contains personal information on federal employees, including sensitive details from background checks.

"The hackers are now in possession of all personnel data for every federal employee, every federal retiree, and up to 1 million former federal employees," AFGE President David Cox wrote in a letter to the OPM.

David Inserra of the Heritage Foundation specializes in homeland security issues, including cyber policy. He spoke with CBN's Charlene Aaron. Click below to watch.

The hackers in essence raided the government's human resources files. The union believes they took the most potentially damaging information on federal workers.

The stolen data includes addresses, birth dates, job and pay history, health insurance, and pension information.

"The government is scrambling to try to figure out what information was actually lost and exfiltrated by this hack," Associated Press intelligence reporter Ken Dilanian said.

"We're talking about potentially very sensitive employee-personally identifying information and one of the questions is - are there employees of the intelligence community included in this group?" he added.

In a June 5 press briefing, White House press secretary Josh Earnest assured reporters the FBI was thoroughly investigating the matter.

"They are experts in this field and they are working actively to understand exactly the scope of this particular intrusion, but also to determine who is responsible and to make sure that we can take steps that are necessary to hold the individuals who are responsible for this incident," he said.

U.S. officials have hesitated to publicly blame China, which denies involvement. But Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the hack was carried out by "the Chinese," although he didn't specify if it was the government or private hackers.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a Senate Intelligence Committee member, also said the hack came from China.

The former chairwoman of the House Intelligence Committee said the Chinese have been trying to assemble a database of information on Americans for some time.

The goals could include using personal details for blackmail or creating bogus emails, which could then become entry points to inject more spyware into government agencies.