"Chinese hackers breached the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management in December, officials said Thursday, and the agency will notify some 4 million current and former federal employees that their personal data may have been compromised."
“Certainly, OPM is a high value target,” said OPM Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour, in an interview. “We have a lot of information about people, and that is something that our adversaries want.”
14 comments:
I don't see why the government even needs computers. It's not like it helps them get things done fast or done correct. They should all be issued a stick and a tray of dirt. Go ahead, tell me how it would slow them down any. OK, maybe it will slow down the lies and graft a little. So imagine all the money saved if politicians had to pass out cash instead of funds transfers and EBT cards. Imagine if legislation had to be written long hand. We could probably cut taxes in half, and reduce disappointment by 90%.
Obamacare website:"Scratch your information on a soft stone and throw it through a window at the closest government office. We'll process your application in half the time as under the old system."
Fighting with China is asymmetrical warfare. They don't have anything we want to steal, and nothing we could screw up of theirs' means a damned thing to anyone. Our stuff is like a fully stocked liquor store in a rust belt city run by Democrats.
CNN is reporting the hack is worst than what the government is admitting.
The present administration and its partisan enablers have flouted the notion of citizenship and so why should this be a surprise?
Here's the problem. It isn't the social security numbers, or the employment histories, or anything like that. It's the home addresses of select government employees. CIA, FBI, military, etc. Those addresses are wanted by our enemies so the (selected) people can be killed. That's the biggest problem.
Remember back during the cold war when Soviet spies were able to get the home addresses of some of the American pilots who flew long-range bombers? Soviet agents were sent to America to live normal lives, but when if war broke out, their job was to go to the pilots' homes, and kill them as they come out the door on the way to their cars to drive to the flight line and pilot their bombers.
Now ISIS wants to kill current and past US military members in the US. And the Chinese have their addresses.
With all the brilliant computer talent in America, why the fuck can't the government keep its systems secure? Because it's the government, and no one ever gets punished for shit like this happening.
What will the Obama admin screw up next?
If it happened in the other direction, some Chinese I.T. people would be sleeping with the fishes, so they have the advantage on the security side by being more motivated.
Look at the quality of the most recent government big I.T. project: Obamacare exchanges. You feeling confident about our I.T. security? Today, I.T. is like sea power was once: absolutely crucial to the global power game, and it's far more powerful. There are now no real physical or geographic buffers like being protected by oceans.
The greatest nation in history may well be crippled by it's competitors' superior use of a technology it itself invented and developed for the world, and there isn't a damned thing we can do about it, because we no longer have the values or wisdom to react to dangers, even when they may be existential. We have put some of our our most foolish, incompetent, and corrupt people in charge because they had the right skin color, genitals or lame rhetoric. We hired people to protect us, who are dedicated to keeping victims as victims, so we will be just that.
We better toughen up, and real quick. We no longer have the luxuries we imagine we do.
Obama doesn't even take ISIS seriously
Just in time to bolster the new "Freedom Act" after the NSA spying doesn't get renewed.
We have put some of our our most foolish, incompetent, and corrupt people in charge because they had the right skin color, genitals or lame rhetoric.
But Chelsea is so smart and glamorous... with her 10 million dollar mansion and her correct fashion.
bagoh20 said...
I don't see why the government even needs computers. It's not like it helps them get things done fast or done correct. They should all be issued a stick and a tray of dirt. Go ahead, tell me how it would slow them down any.
Funny you should say that...because there's a bunch of truth in it. In DOD my experience was that the IT bigwigs did NOT want anyone to infringe on what they saw as their turf. If an ordinary stiff knew enough SQL, Oracle, MS Access, MS SQL Server, etc. to design a time saving (by a factor of nearly 6:1 or more) application database with the tools readily provided to all DOD types, the IT bigwigs discouraged it, and often outright blocked it (they control the access to SIDDs). Been there, done that.
As an old fart in employee terms I was monumentally lazy and discovered with very little effort I could interconnect 4 global databases so that virtually anyone could access consolidated information in a very simple database that anyone here could create in their living room. Oh, my ...the distress! Once I retired they asked about who wrote what, etc. and I gave permission to contact me. They did. I was willing to come down and show them step by step how to manage it all. And then they did nothing. In short, they preferred folks take 6+ hours to do what virtually anyone one could do in 2-3 mouse clicks maximum. Truth is...they just could not handle the responsibility of assigning "roles & permissions" that any DBA should be able to do in their sleep. Give no one access to nuttin' was their answer.
My experience with federal IT folk is that they are whizzes at operating systems, and total dunces on applications. It is in applications where the data "hacked" resides. Hello? They keep "their turf" by impeding anyone else as lazy (mildly creative using tools already on hand) as me. I'd gotten tired of answering the same questions over and over again, so I designed an application so anyone could answer their own questions in less time than it took to call or email me. Oh, no, we cannot have that!
Since I still "consult" from time to time it seems to still amaze them I can draw up answers from 1999 in 5 minutes (that I pass on and conceal the source via my successor) that they can't gather up in a whole day. Yeah, I kept my records so 1999 is a piece of cake. Today's info? Good luck.
I should add that my applications DID control who had access to what...e.g., the 3 click answers were available only based upon role (need to know) and permissions (read only in my applications). It was just easier for the big wigs to do nothing. And there is the truth in bagoh20's comment. In short, if they only had a stick and some dirt, they'd remove the stick.
One more thing. Could I "hack" applications? Since they are common & available, yes, you betcha I could. Take me about 20 minutes max. But I won't. And I don't. OPM's Db is vulnerable because OPM won't manage it. They expect the IT honchos will do so. The stuff is "hidden" (they think) in what amounts to delineated text files...e.g., not concealed at all. Any "manning document" is vulnerable and has all of the information cited here. In other words, any Chinese kid in 8th grade could do uncover it....and skip the controls of who, what & why.
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