WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers who stole security clearance data on millions of Defense Department and other U.S. government employees got away with about 5.6 million fingerprint records, some 4.5 million more than initially reported, the government said on Wednesday.
Lawmakers are debating whether to strip the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its control over security clearances after hackers made off with nearly 20 million background check forms housed at the agency.
The Office of Personnel Management has decided to take a step back in an attempt to move forward after hackers breached files containing sensitive data on millions of current and former federal employees, but some stakeholders are not fully on board with the plan.