U.S. Fears Data Stolen by Chinese Hacker Could Identify Spies
WASHINGTON — American officials are concerned that the Chinese government could use the stolen records of millions of federal workers and contractors to piece together the identities of intelligence officers secretly posted in China over the years.
The potential exposure of the intelligence officers could prevent a large cadre of American spies from ever being posted abroad again, current and former intelligence officials said. It would be a significant setback for intelligence agencies already concerned that a recent data breach at the Office of Personnel Management is a major windfall for Chinese espionage efforts.
In the days after the breach of records of millions of federal workers and contractors became public last month, some officials in the Obama administration said that the theft was not as damaging as it might have been because the Chinese hackers did not gain access to the identities of American undercover spies.
The records of the C.I.A. and some other intelligence agencies, they said, were never part of the personnel office’s databases, and were protected during the breach. Officials said intelligence agencies were taking steps to try to mitigate the damage, but it is unclear what they are specifically doing.
But intelligence and congressional officials now say there is great concern that the hackers — who government officials are now reluctant to say publicly were working for the Chinese government — could still use the vast trove of information to identify American spies by a process of elimination. By combining the stolen data with information they have gathered over time, they said, the hackers can use “big data analytics” to draw conclusions about the identities of operatives.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/25/world/asia/us-fears-data-stolen-by-chinese-hacker-could-identify-spies.html?_r=0