What We're Reading

One in 14 Americans may have just lost tons of their personal information — everything from their Social Security Number and birthdates to notes on their finances, relationships and even sexual proclivities — to hackers in a massive cyber breach, a federal agency said Thursday.

Hackers have made off with confidential data belonging to 22 million people who work, formerly worked or have applied to work for the federal government, costing a top agency official her job and exposing troves of sensitive data stored by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which serves as a sort of human resources for federal workers.

Here's a breakdown of the biggest questions — including what you should know about the attack, who is affected and what it means for you.

Which databases were hit?

While OPM has declined to say exactly which systems were affected, an agency filing in the Federal Register reveals two likely targets: the Enterprise Human Resources Integration (EHRI) system, which contains per

Forgetting your wallet at home may no longer be a problem when picking up prescriptions or incidentals, as the nation’s biggest drugstore chain Walgreens and other major retailers partner with Apple and its new mobile payment system. Apple’s new mobile payment system — Apple Pay — could certainly make life for consumers much easier. But the move also makes the iPhone a virtually indispensable — and invaluable –piece of property that will be even more vulnerable to security risks if lost, stolen or hacked.

Walgreens, Target, Staples, McDonald’s, Sephora, Starbucks, and Groupon are among the 12 retailers to accept Apple Pay in October. The system was unveiled Sept. 9 along with the latest iPhone and the highly anticipated Apple Watch.

Apple Pay will allow consumers to pay for items using near field communication, a wireless technology that transmits payment information from the mobile device to a store’s checkout system. The SIM card in the mobile phone, which stores users’ personal in