US wants to take revenge on China after major government hack

The US government is said to be hinting at retaliation against China. The reason is the recent government hack in which the personal data of millions of current and former government employees was stolen.

President Obama is said to have decided that there should be a retaliation, The New York Times reports citing sources within the US government. Behind the scenes it would be decided exactly what the measures will look like. It is not yet known whether the United States intends to ‘hack back’ China. While the government does not normally speak out about retaliation, the New York Times sources would have chosen it this time: they hope it will deter future government hacks.

Plans for revenge follow after it was recently revealed that the US government’s computer systems had been hacked on a large scale. In the end, the personal data of more than 20 million current and former government employees was stolen. This could identify spies from the United States, among other things.

The White House has previously said it suspects hackers affiliated with a government of the hack. Officially, no country has been charged, but government sources have repeatedly spoken of Chinese state hackers. The United States and China have been engaged in a kind of cyber war for some time, with mutual attempts to penetrate systems.