A massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management was bigger than originally thought as the government reported 5.6 million fingerprints were stolen.
Initial reports estimated only 1.1 million fingerprints were stolen in the hack, according to Reason.
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A Washington Post report on the hack emphasizes that biometric data such as fingerprints have longer-term effects for the victims. Fingerprints can’t be changed, so an inconvenience becomes a years-long problem.
“Rather conveniently, news about the increased number of fingerprints lost in the cyberattack broke during the Pope’s news-dominating speech event at the White House,” Reason’s Peter Suderman wrote.
The estimate revision for just how many people were affected was similar to an IRS computer breach in May. The agency originally estimated that about 100,000 taxpayers were affected by the hack, but tripled that number by August.
That the federal government has difficulty knowing how vulnerable its agencies were to a hack, and the extent of data breaches, is concerning.
The government hasn’t publicly blamed anyone for the breach, though China is widely suspected, according to the Washington Post.
