China’s hack exposed 21.5 million Americans

Mark Matassa • Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>China’s hack exposed 21.5 million Americans</h1>
                <h2><p>It was even worse than they thought. The latest estimate is that the “colossal breach of government computer systems,” as The New York Times puts it, compromised the personal information of 21.5 million Americans, and not just government workers. The Office of Personnel Management said two related hacks stole</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/mmatassa-mac-com/">Mark Matassa</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>It was even worse than they thought. The latest estimate is that the<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/us/office-of-personnel-management-hackers-got-data-of-millions.html?hp=&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&ref=avalancheghost.one"> “colossal breach of government computer systems,”</a> as <em>The New York Times</em> puts it, compromised the personal information of 21.5 million Americans, and not just government workers. The Office of Personnel Management said two related hacks stole Social Security numbers, fingerprints, addresses and financial history.</p>
          </article>

It was even worse than they thought. The latest estimate is that the “colossal breach of government computer systems,” as The New York Times puts it, compromised the personal information of 21.5 million Americans, and not just government workers. The Office of Personnel Management said two related hacks stole Social Security numbers, fingerprints, addresses and financial history.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Print Viewer Guide (opt-in)

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue