Big US data breaches offer treasure trove for hackers

Washington

A MASSIVE breach of US federal computer networks disclosed last week is the latest in a flood of attacks by suspected Chinese hackers aimed at grabbing personal data, industrial secrets and weapons plans from government and private computers.

The Obama administration on Thursday disclosed the breach of computer systems at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and said that the records of up to four million current and former federal employees may have been compromised.

US officials have said on condition of anony…