DOE Security Breach Hits 1,500 Workers

Hackers broke into Department of Energy computers last September and stole information within a file containing the names and social security numbers of employees, the agency said Friday. However, the breach was not disclosed until last week.

In a congressional hearing on Friday, it was also acknowledged that those affected were never informed of the breach. The head of the National Nuclear Security Adminstration Linton Brooks claimed that he did not think he had to brief senior officials on the matter, as he thought the counterintelligence office would automatically do so.

That did not occur and House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Rep. Joe Barton chastised Brooks for not being forthcoming. Barton called it a major breach of the agency's security. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is also reportedly upset over the handling of the breach.

The committee only learned of the issue the night before the hearing, and Barton called for Brook's resignation. The hearing was intended to discuss DOE cyber security, although questions on the breach all but dominated it. According to the hearing, no classified information was at risk since the file was stored on a system for unclassified data.

Information in the file included the name, social security number, date of birth, and codes for where the employee worked and his security clearance level. Efforts are now underway to inform those who have been affected, officials said.

According to those who testified, the breach was discovered last September during tests to see how hacker-proof the Department of Energy's servers were. The tests also found that security in the system was sorely lacking, and the group was able to break in without much trouble.