Beijing yesterday labeled as “irresponsible” reports that Chinese hackers were behind a massive cyberattack on personal data of millions of current and former US federal employees.
The US government on Thursday said that hackers accessed the personal data of at least 4 million current and former federal employees.
Officials told US media that China was suspected.
“Cyberattacks are generally anonymous and conducted across borders, and their origins are hard to trace,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said at a regular press briefing. “Not to carry out a deep investigation and keep using words such as ‘possible’ is irresponsible and unscientific.”
“As a result of the incident,” uncovered in April, the US Office of Personnel Management said it “will send notifications to approximately 4 million individuals.”
It added that additional exposures “may come to light.”
The government’s personnel department handles hundreds of thousands of sensitive security clearances and background investigations on prospective employees each year.
It was not immediately clear whether the hack affected US President Barack Obama, other senior government officials or the intelligence community.
The Washington Post and other US media cited government officials as saying that Chinese hackers were behind the breach.
“We have seen a lot of media reports and opinions like this recently,” Hong said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said that such attacks would not be allowed under Chinese law.
“Chinese laws prohibit cybercrimes of all forms. China has made great efforts to combat cyberattacks in accordance with Chinese laws and regulations,” Chinese embassy spokesman Zhu Haiquan (朱海權) said.
The FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security were said to be leading a probe into the attack.
The FBI in a statement said it “will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
The government said it will, through a third party, offer US$1 million in identity theft protection services at no cost.
“Protecting our federal employee data from malicious cyberincidents is of the highest priority,” US Office of Personnel Management director Katherine Archuleta said.
Her agency said the intrusion may have begun late last year and “predated the adoption of the tougher security controls.”
The new measures include restricting remote access, screening business connections and deploying anti-malware software.
The incident is the latest in a series of major breaches that have shown the vulnerability of the US federal government.
Last year, Russian hackers are believed to have accessed unclassified computer systems at the White House and US Department of State.
Earlier this year, hackers stole information on 100,000 taxpayers from online computers of the US Internal Revenue Service.
China is increasingly concerned about US cyberspying and has ordered many government departments to avoid using foreign technology.
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