Sensitive personal data on 19.7 million American civil service applicants may be compromised in cyber breach

The agency responsible for personnel management of the United States civil service suggested Thursday it has concluded that sensitive information on nearly 20 million people applying for government employment has been compromised in a cyber security incident.

The discovery was made while investigating an earlier cyber security breach, the Office of Personnel Management announced July 9. Data that may have been compromised could include private personal information on more than a million spouses or co-habitants of civil service employment applicants.

“Notifications for this incident have not yet begun,” OPM stated.

An “interagency” response team comprised of people from OPM, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security are investigating.

“OPM and the interagency incident response team have concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases,” OPM stated. “This includes 19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants, primarily spouses or co-habitants of applicants.”

The information that may have been affected include history of applicants’ residences and education, information about immediate family, personal and business acquaintances as well as health, criminal and financial history.

“Usernames and passwords that background investigation applicants used to fill out their background investigation forms were also stolen,” OPM warned.

OPM’s mandates include background investigations for prospective employees, and security clearances.

Of the records that could have been compromised, some “also include findings from interviews conducted by background investigators and approximately 1.1 million include fingerprints,” OPM stated.