A cyberattack against federal government security clearance contractor U.S. Investigations Services LLC (USIS) went undetected for a protracted period, according to a report in the the Associated Press.
The article noted that USIS didn't notice the attack, which exposed the records of 25,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees for months, raising red flags as to why detection alarms didn't alert the company to the hackers' activity. In addition, the breach prompted some critics to question whether the federal agencies that had contracted with USIS should have more closely monitored the company. The company detected the breach in June and reported it publicly in August.
AP said the attack was similar to previous intrusions by Chinese hackers.
