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Over 20 Million Social Security Numbers Stolen In Massive Breach

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Erica Wenig Contributor
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Hackers swiped an estimated 21.5 million Social Security numbers from government computers.

According to a statement by the Office of Personnel Management Thursday, the numbers of 19.7 million applicants for background investigations and 1.8 million non-applications were taken.

People who had background checks prior to 2000 are less likely to have been affected, but those who applied after that year are “highly likely” a victim of the massive breach, according to NPR.

Stolen records include some mental health and financial information, as well as an estimated 1.1 million records containing fingerprints.

Government officials suspect involvement by the Chinese government. It is not an isolated incident “but part of a broader campaign by China to build a massive database that can be used to earmark and index the intelligence for future use,” Fox News reported.

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