Hacked US Government Agency Will Eliminate Passwords

The US government agency responsible for screening officers and twice was hacked wants within two years all the passwords of staff eradication. Attackers did twice in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to penetrate.

In addition, the data were 25.7 million Americans stolen. These included highly sensitive data that officials had to fill in the screening forms, such as mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, arrests by police, bankruptcies and user names, passwords, and 5.6 million fingerprints. While it has been mandatory since 2004 to log on with a digital smart card, in September last year showed that only 1% of the OPM computers that requirement.

In an update, the authority has now announced that about a year half the staff will log through a personal smart card. All internal employees now have a smart card for network access, but that does not apply to users outside the public service, says Donna Seymour, Chief Information Officer of the OPM. End of 2017, for employees with a smart card multi-factor authentication are required, as well as 80% of users who do not have a smart card. Further, it will expand the network of network sensors OPM.

5.6 Million Fingerprints With US Government Stolen

At the hack of US government agency OPM fingerprints from 5.6 million people have been stolen and not 1.1 million, as previously indicated. This is shown by research from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the US Department of Defense.

Public authority, which is responsible for screening officers, was twice hacked. At the first break proved the data of 4.2 million civil servants to be captured. During the investigation into this burglary second burglary was discovered, with much more data were captured. In addition, it was very sensitive data that officials had to fill in the screening forms, such as mental health problems, drug and alcohol use, arrests by police, bankruptcies and user names, passwords, and in some cases fingerprints. In July, it became clear that in this second break-in, the data of 21.5 million Americans have been stolen.

Abuse data

According to experts, the potential for abuse of the stolen fingerprint data limited. This could be in the future, as technology continues to evolve, change. That's why the FBI will, the Department of Homeland Security, the Ministry of Justice and members of the intelligence community launch an investigation to see how this fingerprint data now and in the future can be exploited by enemies.

The parties will also work on ways to prevent such abuse. If it turns out that it is possible to abuse the fingerprint data in the future, the US government will separate the people affected here warn. All affected individuals will be alerted by the OPM on the incident. In addition, all victims eligible for credit monitoring. Something the US government $ 133 million will cost.