Millions more Americans hit by government personnel data 'hack'

Yahoo.com reports:

Data breaches at the U.S. government's personnel management agency by hackers, with suspicions centering on China, involves millions more people than previously estimated, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said data stolen from its computer networks included Social Security numbers and other sensitive information on 21.5 million people who have undergone background checks for security clearances.

That is in addition to data on about 4.2 million current and former federal workers that was stolen in what the OPM called a "separate but related" hacking incident. Because many people were affected by both hacks, a total of 22.1 million people were affected, or almost 7 percent of the U.S. population.

The breach had already been considered one of the most damaging on record because of its scale and, more importantly, the sensitivity of the material taken.

Those exposed included 19.7 million who applied for the clearances - current, former, and prospective federal employees and contractors - plus 1.8 million non-applicants, mostly spouses or co-habitants of applicants, the agency said...