2nd Government Breach Within a Week Linked to Spearphishing

Last week, the Obama Administration acknowledged that there was a second and separate data breach on federal systems. In this case, China is being positively linked and is accused of stealing information used in determining security clearances. It is possible that 14 million people are affected by this second breach discovered by the FBI while investigating the initial Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach. It is not known how long the criminals had access to the OPM servers; FBI and DHS are still investigating.

Information on the forms (SF86) includes not only social security numbers of the applicants, but also information regarding their mental health, finances, family members, and many other details. Information on how many records were accessed has not been provided, but officials have said that more than 2.9 million people were investigated for security clearances as of October 2014.
 
It is unknown what precisely the perpetrators or their sponsors will do with the information, but one option is to use it in spearphishing attacks. It could be used to impersonate the victims or blackmail them, although it is suspected that attempting to gain entry into sensitive government computer networks is more likely. This is a technique where the hackers will send specially crafted email messages that look like they came from legitimate users. In this case, they may appear to be from someone who has a particular security clearance or access to the targeted systems. Spearphishing messages are sent in an attempt to get the users to open them, click something included within them, and subsequently install spyware or other malware on a system. Often, the malware is installed without any knowledge of the user and can go undetected for years.
 
It's very important to know how to recognize a phishing email message of any kind. Often the language in the messages uses incorrect grammar and punctuation, at least to some degree. Often, there are many typographical errors. If the mouse cursor overs over any links that are included, they will appear to be garbled or nonsense. Also, often the message is sent with a link or attachment that is completely unexpected.
 
It's important to trust with 100% confidence that any links or attachments in any email messages before clicking them. If there is any doubt, don't. Also, take the time to hover the mouse cursor over links to make sure they are going to somewhere that makes sense. Better yet, just manually type known links into the address bar of the browser. 
 
Spearphishing is a serious matter and has now been made even more complicated to recognize. Take additional time to investigate email messages when sensitive information or access is requested. Pick up the phone and call to verify before doing anything.
 
This most recent breach was found during the investigation of the earlier attack on the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and remains under investigation with little information being released. In that one, it was suspected that up to 4.2 million current and former federal employees were originally affected. Additional reports are surfacing that up to 14 million, including former and retired employees had information stolen about them. However, little is being confirmed by the FBI or the Obama Administration.