Criminals steal data from 800,000 US postal service employees

Criminals have stolen the data of more than 800,000 employees from the American postal service, the United States Postal Service. American media report that the Chinese government is believed to be behind the attack.

The criminals broke into the computer network of the American postal service. They stole the data of more than 800,000 employees, according to The Washington Post. This probably concerns name and address details, dates of birth and information about health insurance. Data was also leaked from telephone conversations and email exchanges with customers between January and August this year.

The United States Postal Service does not say exactly how the attack took place. The postal service does say that additional security measures have been taken that should make future attacks more difficult. The service also actively helps affected employees, according to a statement.

The FBI says it does not know who is behind the attack and is investigating. US media suggests that the Chinese government is behind the attack, but denies it. The Chinese would not have been interested in banking information, but in general information. That information could help China with covert operations in the United States.

The United States and China have been at odds for some time. The countries accuse each other of cyber attacks. In addition, the US and China are engaged in a technology race, with both countries actively encouraging the use of homegrown software and hardware.