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Incredible how underplayed this story has been in the media. When it comes to the US government, there is nothing that China doesn't know about everybody who's anybody.

That seems like it ought to be a bigger deal than it is. Instead, it doesn't see to bother many people, and it's not as if anything could be done about if it did.




The lack of ability to do anything about it is probably why you don't hear much about it, but a lot of the people who were affected by it are still salty. One thing that you didn't mention though, is that the info included a ton of info about non government people. The background investigation forms include names, addresses, contact information, etc., for the families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors, of people who worked for the government. The hack was a trove of information that could be used in social engineering attacks against anyone who was within 1-2 degrees of separation of anybody that worked with or for the government.


1) implying that their potential sources in the government are incompetent rubes tends to reduce access for reporters

2) implying that the emperor (the permanent bureaucracy) in Washington has no clothes isn't really in any group's interest


I think the new normal is that anything that any company or government knows about you is effectively public knowledge. Neither the government nor the private sector has shown that it has the ability to secure data over the long term.


"Only a problem if you have a solution" is what they say. Unfortunate but true.




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