NEW YORK: The U.S. Postal Service has been hacked, and the likely culprits are Chinese hackers.
The USPS discovered a “cyber security intrusion” that may have compromised the personal data of its more than 800,000 employees. But the agency downplayed the incident, calling it “limited in scope.”
The hackers “potentially” gained access to USPS employees’ personal data such as names, dates of birth, social security numbers and addresses, the agency stated.
Employees weren’t the only ones affected. Hackers also compromised the personal data of customers who contacted the Postal Service Customer Care Centre via telephone or email between Jan. 1, 2014, and Aug. 16, 2014; this data includes names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses and other information, USPS added.
The FBI confirmed to Mashable that the incident is currently under investigation, and that “impacted individuals should take steps to monitor and safeguard their personally identifiable information.” USPS has begun notifying its employees, but said that affected customers don’t need to take any action for the time being. Moreover, the USPS will not notify any affected customers, USPS spokesperson David Partenheimer confirmed to Mashable.
Neither the FBI nor the USPS pointed a finger directly at China, but Partenheimer told that the attack was carried out by “a sophisticated actor that appears not to be interested in identity theft or credit card fraud.”
This suggests that the attackers were motivated by espionage and might be state-sponsored. Partenheimer declined to provide any further details and told Mashable that “the source and the reason for the cyber intrusion remain under investigation.”
He added that suspect hackers with ties with the Chinese government are the prime suspects, just as President Barack Obama is visiting China to meet with President Xi Jinping. Cyber security is one of the issues on the meeting agenda.
This cyber attack is simply the most recent in a seemingly never-ending string against U.S. government agencies. Less than two weeks ago, officials accused Russian hackers for intruding into the White House’s unclassified network. In August, Chinese hackers were accused of attacking a large U.S. hospital network; in July, Chinese hackers breached a U.S. agency that stores personnel information about federal employees, the Office of Personnel Management.
