by Bill Gertz
Nine major cyber attacks targeting the personal data of millions of Americans were carried out against federal and private computer networks in the past year, according to an internal report by the Department of Homeland Security.
The July 2 report by the department’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center stated that two of the incidents involved “millions” and “hundreds of thousands” of stolen personal records respectively in what appears to be a coordinated campaign of bulk personal data theft.
A U.S. defense contractor was also hit by the data breaches.
The report did not identify the hackers behind the attacks, but stated that they were conducted by sophisticated attackers.
The report indicates that the Chinese-origin cyber attacks against Office of Personnel Management networks is part of a larger-scale operation targeting the personal data for intelligence or military purposes.
James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, has said China is the leading suspect behind the OPM attacks. Beijing has denied responsibility for the OPM network breaches that President Obama has called a cyber attack.
