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
