If US authorities are correct, China is behind the massive new hack of government personnel files, But why? If it were a financial motive—identity theft, etc.—that would be one thing. But the New York Times and the Washington Post talk to security experts and come to the same creepy conclusion:
- Times: "The attackers seem to be amassing huge databases of personal information about Americans."
- Post: "China is building massive databases of Americans’ personal information ..."
While the newly revealed hack involved only federal workers, the stories note that China also is believed to be behind previous hacks of giant health insurers including Anthem and Premera. Those breaches affected tens of millions of Americans. The Wall Street Journal, noting that the newly hit Office of Personnel Management is effectively the government's HR department, suspects that the OPM hack is more about "intelligence-gathering on U.S. officials than money scams." One possible reason is the recruitment of spies, notes the Post. (More hacking stories.)
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