Hackers can blackmail US civil servants

Founder of the private cyber security company CrowdStrike Dmitry Alperovich said that Chinese intelligence is creating an analogue of Facebook. And fills it with information about civil servants, which was stolen during the last hacks. This expert said on the TV channel Fox News.

According to Alperovich, hackers use data stolen from hacking personnel and medical insurance companies. The created profiles of civil servants can be used to disseminate defamatory information or for blackmail to force a person to cooperate with the Chinese government, the expert explained.

It was previously reported that the most sensitive confidential information stolen from HR came from so-called “Standard Form 86s,” or SF-86s. This 127-page document, used to provide access to classified information, essentially contains a complete guide to a person's life, from where they live and work, to information about relatives and friends, as well as information about drug addiction and health conditions.

At the same time, hacking affected virtually all civil servants and contractors with the maximum level of access to classified information. In addition, experts fear that as a result of data theft, negative consequences may also come to friends and close employees. A separate concern is the opportunity to use information about children - they may be blackmailed in order to collect data on the work of parents.

“The information obtained can be used decades later,” Alperovich emphasized.

Recall that in early June, the US Department of Homeland Security reported a mass personal leakage of current and former federal employees. Then it was reported that hackers got access to four million records.

Later it turned out that this leak was not the only one: the personnel service of the US administration recognized the leakage of 21,5 data to millions of US government officials and their family members. The service clarified that 19,7 million people whose data was stolen, agreed to check the biography when applying for a job. In this case, the main part of the records falls on information about relatives, who were also subjected to verification.