Excerpt
SUMMARY: More than 21 million Americans had personal data stolen from files held by the Office of Personnel Management. Anyone who went through background checks to apply for a government position since 2000 has been affected, according to the OPM. That makes the data breach six times larger than was originally disclosed. Gwen Ifill learns more from Josh Lederman of the Associated Press.
GWEN IFILL (NewsHour): More than 21 million Americans had personal information stolen from government files in a data breach that was six times as large as originally disclosed. The information was hacked from the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, which said today it is highly likely that anyone who went through background checks to apply for a government position since 2000 was affected.
Joining us to fill in the blanks is Josh Lederman of the Associated Press, who has been covering the story.
In terms of scope, we know this is huge, but how is it different from the earlier hacks we have heard about, Josh?
JOSH LEDERMAN, Associated Press: Well, what we’re finding out now, Gwen, is not only were many more Americans affected than we previously knew, but just what kinds of data.
We’re talking about very personal data that most people would be very uncomfortable knowing is out there. We’re talking about health histories, their criminal histories, their educational and residency backgrounds, as well as interviews that they conducted with members of OPM, Office of Personnel Management, or other people conducting background checks in the process of applications to get a security clearance.
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