Do you believe that the OPM data breach will compromise our intelligence capabilities for years to come?

GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 02:17:17 -0400

Hackers stole the personally identifying information of more than 20 million people, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) revealed on Thursday, in a breach that threatens to compromise US intelligence capabilities for years to come.

"Presuming these attacks came from China, it's debilitating to America's human intelligence capabilities for a generation," geopolitical expert Ian Bremmer, founder of Eurasia Group, told Business Insider via email.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-massive-china-hack-on-us-data-will-be-debilitating-to-us-intelligence-for-a-generation/ar-AAcOcXn

The massive China hack on US data 'will be debilitating to US intelligence for a generation'

Response by CW4 Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 12 at 2015 2:27 AM

CW4 Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 02:27:36 -0400

Initially, but it should help redesign and enhance the capabilities to improve on exsisting measures to keep the data protected.

Response by CPT Bruce Rodgers made Jul 12 at 2015 2:39 AM

CPT Bruce Rodgers — Sun, 12 Jul 2015 02:39:20 -0400

They stole my info, but I'm retired and poor so good luck

Response by SSG Ed Mikus made Jul 13 at 2015 7:12 AM

SSG Ed Mikus — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 07:12:20 -0400

yes, it gives them great insight into the life's of people we trust with our most sensitive secrets allowing them to be exploited easier by the spies of our enemies. We cannot replace and retrain all the people, so we are at a disadvantage for a long time.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jul 19 at 2015 11:13 AM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 19 Jul 2015 11:13:50 -0400

GySgt Wayne A. Ekblad, I read the article, and I think the harm is grossly overstated. My information is in that breach as well, but so what?

Sure, with my SF-86 identity theft is probably as easy as breathing. But so what? Identity theft has been a problem for years. All the breach means is that banks, credit card issuers, and retailers need to get serious about finding a way to verify identity. And as far as I can see, the only solution is two or three factor authentication.

What are the three factors? 1) Something you know, like a password. 2) Something you have. like a CAC card. 3) Something you are, like a retinal scan or fingerprint. OK, so it's a pain to have to prove two or three of those when you want to buy something ... more of a pain than straightening out identity theft? Nope. What this means is we have to get serious and quit taking the easy or politically expedient solution. Chip and Pin cards are the rave, but they are U-S-E-L-E-S-S on the Internet, where 80% of transactions occur. We need to quit listening to politicians and start listening to security specialists.

As far as harming intelligence, yes, it may be harder to do HUMINT. But it doesn't harm any other *INT at all. So what's the big deal?

Pandora's box has been opened. The genie is out of the bottle. No way to go back the way things were. It's time to adapt to reality and give up the fantasy of the past.

Response by CPT Pedro Meza made Aug 7 at 2015 2:35 PM

CPT Pedro Meza — Fri, 07 Aug 2015 14:35:30 -0400

The only compromise to our intelligence capabilities happens if positive steps are not taken to prevent and circumvent the information stolen, also time to use more humans and stop relying too much on electronic data.