OPM Breach Snags 5 Million Fingerprints

More bad news surfaced for victims of the Office of Personnel Management breach reported in June 2015. The agency said that of the 21.5 million individuals whose information was hacked, 5.6 million fingerprints had their fingerprints lifted.

As part of the government’s effort to notify individuals affected by the theft of background investigation records, the OPM and Department of Defense analyzed impacted data to verify its quality and completeness. During that process, it was discovered that the number of individuals with stolen fingerprints stood at 5.6 million, not 1.1 million as previously thought.

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News of the massive breaches began in April 2015, when the OPM discovered a separate but related incident in which personal data was stolen from 4.2 million current and former Federal government employees. Then, in June 2015, while investigating the prior event, the OPM discovered an additional compromise of background investigation records belonging to 21.5 million current, former and prospective Federal employees and contractors.