The government got hacked because its computers are too old to encrypt
The Los Angeles Times reports that the millions of files of federal workers' personal information that were allegedly compromised by Chinese hackers were vulnerable because the government is using wildly outdated computer technology.
"Some legacy systems may not be capable of being encrypted," explained Donna Seymour, chief technology officer for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The files that were hacked are old enough to legally drink, stored in systems which cannot be secured using modern encryption. As Seymour noted, "These problems are two decades in the making."
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