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Lisa Rein writes in the Washington Post that a new government review of what the Chinese hack of sensitive security clearance files of 21 million people means for national security is in — and some of the implications are quite grave. According to the Congressional Research Service, covert intelligence officers and their operations could be exposed and high-resolution fingerprints could be copied by criminals. Some suspect that the Chinese government may build a database of U.S. government employees that could help identify U.S. officials and their roles or that could help target individuals to gain access to additional systems or information. National security concerns include whether hackers could have obtained information that could help them identify clandestine and covert officers and operations (PDF).
CRS says that if the fingerprints in the background investigation files are of high enough quality, "depending on whose hands the fingerprints come into, they could be used for criminal or counterintelligence purposes." Fingerprints also could be trafficked on the black market for profit — or used to blow the covers of spies and other covert and clandestine officers, the research service found. And if they're compromised, fingerprints can't be reissued like a new credit card, the report says, making "recovery from the breach more challenging for some."
(Score: 3, Flamebait) by Gravis on Thursday July 30 2015, @12:26PM
let's call them what they are: spies. nobody likes a spy because a spy is a bad guy. i have no sympathy for them.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 30 2015, @04:45PM
No, let's not. The documents which appear to have been compromised are the SF 86 "QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NATIONAL SECURITY POSITIONS", which is the standard questionnaire that anyone who handles classified infoirmation must submit to get a security clearance. I'm among the several million whose information was compromised. As a civilian employee working in an R&D lab for the USAF I have a SECRET security clearance. I don't do any spying. While I have collaborated on a classified project, most of my work is unclassified research in high power microwave source development. There are millions more just like me. We are the people you are so cavlierly dismissing as "bad guys". Just so you know.