The Office of Personnel Management experinced a data breach incident in September 2015. Hackers breached its systems and stole almost six million US government fingerprints which exposed the social security numbers, addresses, employment history, and financial records of 21.5 million current and former US government employees. The government provided additional information to individuals whose fingerprints had been stolen in this breach.

In 2015, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) suffered a catastrophic cyber breach attributed to Chinese state-sponsored hackers, exposing the sensitive personal data of 21.5 million individuals, including federal employees, contractors, and their families. The compromised records included Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, fingerprints (1.1 million), financial details, and medical histories—some of the most valuable data on the dark web. The breach left victims vulnerable to lifelong identity theft, financial fraud, and espionage risks. Despite legislative mandates (e.g., Warner’s identity protection services), OPM faced pressure in 2024 to dismantle post-breach safeguards under budget cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), risking further victimization. The attack’s scale and persistence of stolen data—particularly biometric and health records—highlighted systemic failures in federal cybersecurity, with repercussions extending beyond financial harm to national security threats. Senator Mark Warner warned that terminating protective measures would exacerbate the permanent exposure of affected individuals, emphasizing the breach’s irreversible damage.