Hacked in the USA: China’s Not-So-Hidden Infiltration Op

The vast cyberattack in Washington began with, of all things, travel reservations. More than two years ago, troves of personal data were stolen from US travel companies. Hackers subsequently made off with health records at big insurance companies and infiltrated federal computers where they stole personnel records on 21.5 million people -- in what apparently is the largest such theft of US government records in history. Those individual attacks, once believed to be unconnected, now appear to be part of a coordinated campaign by Chinese hackers to collect sensitive details on key people that went on far longer -- and burrowed far deeper -- than initially thought. But time and again, US authorities missed clues connecting one incident to the next.

Interviews with federal investigators and cybersecurity experts paint a troubling portrait of what many are calling a serious failure of US intelligence agencies to spot the pattern or warn potential victims. Moreover, the problems in Washington add new urgency to calls for vigilance in the private sector. In revealing the scope of stolen government data on July 9, Obama Administration officials declined to identify a perpetrator. Investigators say the Chinese government was almost certainly behind the effort, an allegation China has vehemently denied.