The officials are claiming that foreign spy agencies such as those from China and Russia are verifying hacked databases in order to find undercover U.S intelligence operatives.
Foreign spy agencies such as those from China and Russia are verifying hacked databases in order to find undercover U.S intelligence operatives.
According to LA Times, a secret network comprising of engineers and scientists from the US providing technical assistance to the state’s foreign-based undercover agencies has been hacked.
This lends to the theory that international spying agencies are cross-referencing various compromised databases to identify US spies. These databases include details such as security clearance applications and air travel records.
This security clearance database breach was acknowledged by the US Office of Personnel Management in June, and the data compromised was from the government’s Standard Form 86.
Form 86 is a 127-page long document that requires the applicants’ personal details such as criminal background, previous military experience, financial irregularities/issues, computer hacking activities, and possible links to terrorist groups.
The forms that were accessed (Standard Form 86) required people to disclose deeply personal information about themselves. The Office of Personnel Management declined to comment on the situation. Whereas the Obama Administration has released an official figure of 4 million, they didn’t exactly reveal the nature of the content that was stolen.
A look back at data leaked by ISIS:
The so-called Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) also leaked personal data belonging to the United States government and security officials.
The pro-ISIS hackers previously claimed to hack numerous military servers, emails and databases and the information on 100 American military officers. Another leak from the group contained personal information of over 1500 government and military officials from Australia, Israel, the US and the UK.
The U.S Legislators are concerned since such breaches would definitely expose intelligence agents and they will become exposed to blackmailing.
