FBI Director: So, Look, Like Maybe Four Times As Many People's Sensitive Information Was Hacked Than the White House First Told You

Mm-hm.

Washington (CNN)The personal data of an estimated 18 million current, former and prospective federal employees were affected by a cyber breach at the Office of Personnel Management -- more than four times the 4.2 million the agency has publicly acknowledged. The number is expected to grow, according to U.S. officials briefed on the investigation.

FBI Director James Comey gave the 18 million estimate in a closed-door briefing to Senators in recent weeks, using the OPM's own internal data, according to U.S. officials briefed on the matter. Those affected could include people who applied for government jobs, but never actually ended up working for the government.

The same hackers who accessed OPM's data are believed to have last year breached an OPM contractor, KeyPoint Government Solutions, U.S. officials said. When the OPM breach was discovered in April, investigators found that KeyPoint security credentials were used to breach the OPM system.

Some investigators believe that after that intrusion last year, OPM officials should have blocked all access from KeyPoint, and that doing so could have prevented more serious damage. But a person briefed on the investigation says OPM officials don't believe such a move would have made a difference. That's because the OPM breach is believed to have pre-dated the KeyPoint breach. Hackers are also believed to have built their own backdoor access to the OPM system, armed with high-level system administrator access to the system. One official called it the "keys to the kingdom." KeyPoint did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

Here's something you've never heard from the Obama Administration:

"In our last report, we reported an overly-sour view of our performance. After review, and after the media has moved on, it turns out our first estimate of our malfeasance was too harsh -- in fact, we did a better job than we thought."

The Obama Administration is like sex with someone with overpowering genital odor. It just gets worse and worse with each button. And it never gets as good as the last button.

posted by Ace at 07:09 PM

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