How Much Damage Can the US Office of Personnel Management Hackers Do With Millions of Fingerprints?

Hackers stole personal data for 21 million government workers stored by the US Office of Personnel Management, including more than 5 million sets of fingerprints, according to most recent reports. Industries and governments increasingly rely on fingerprint technology for securing access to computers or laboratories or other structures, and the theft disrupts expansion plans. “Part of the worry, cybersecurity experts say, is that fingerprints are part of an exploding field of biometric data, which the government is increasingly getting in the business of collecting and storing,” reports Dustin Volz for National Journal. Fingerprints are used to run background checks, verify identities at borders, and unlock smartphones, but the technology is expected to boom in the coming decades in both the public and private sectors.” The theft offers a warning to those seeking to secure data or infrastructure: Biometric data like fingerprints or iris scans cannot be reissued, and any digital data can be stolen and manipulated. – YaleGlobal