U.S. Suspects Hackers in China Breached About 4 Million People’s Records, Officials Say
Described as one of the largest thefts of government data ever seen
ENLARGE
WASHINGTON—The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing an apparently far-reaching penetration of data held by the Office of Personnel Management, in which the records of approximately 4 million individuals were compromised, according to people familiar with the matter.
U.S. officials suspect hackers based in China are behind the attack, though they continue to investigate, these people said. One official described it as one of the largest thefts of government data ever seen.
Investigators said the hack was a separate attack from one detected last year.
An FBI spokesman said the agency is working with other parts of the government to investigate. “We take all potential threats to public and private sector systems seriously, and will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace,” he said.
The Office of Personnel Management, in a statement, said it detected the breach in April and is working with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.
The Department of Homeland Security said it “concluded at the beginning of May” that the information had been stolen.
The OPM said it could discover that even more records were stolen. It couldn’t be learned how many of those individuals are government officials and how many might be contractors.
“We take very seriously our responsibility to secure the information stored in our systems, and in coordination with our agency partners, our experienced team is constantly identifying opportunities to further protect the data with which we are entrusted,” OPM Director Katherine Archuleta said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In the past, its spokesman has noted it is notoriously difficult to identify the provenance of computer hackers.
Susan Ruge, associate counsel at the Office of Personnel Management’s Office of Inspector General, said in an email that “we cannot comment on this matter.”
Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com and Danny Yadron at danny.yadron@wsj.com