US postal service hit with huge data theft

In the latest high-profile attack on a US government agency, hackers have breached a US postal service computer system, stealing personal data on over 750,000 current and former employees.

The breach also compromised the data of around 2.9 million customers, an official told CNN this week.

The stolen data reportedly included the social security numbers of the more than 750,000 employees, as well as birth dates and addresses. For customers, the data includes names, addresses, phone numbers and emails.

In a statement, the postal service said it is working with the FBI on an investigation into the attack and that the breach has not affected the service’s routine operations.

The announcement comes weeks after the White House disclosed its unclassified computer systems had been breached. Russian hackers are believed to be at blame.

The New York Times notes that the postal service attack instead appears to have the characteristics of Chinese hackers, leading some cyber experts to speculate that intruders are trying to gain an understanding of how federal computer systems are set up and how they can be breached.

According to the report, the postal service learned of the intrusion in mid-September and took nearly two months to notify the affected employees.

These attacks also come in the wake of high-profile intrusions of systems run by major corporations including Target and Home Depot.

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