Cyber Breach Exposes EPA Staff’s Bank Numbers, Addresses

Thousands of employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had their Social Security numbers, bank-routing information and addresses exposed in a cyber breach of an internal computer database.

The “security incident” took place in late March, and affected 5,100 employees and 2,700 other people, the agency said today in a statement.

An EPA analysis “indicates it is unlikely the personal- financial information has been used,” according to the statement. “The agency has already added new safeguards in response to this incident.”

Cyber attacks on U.S. computer networks increased 17-fold from 2009 through 2011 and there are reports that digital adversaries have stolen $1 trillion of U.S. intellectual property, U.S. Army General Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency (GSAG) and U.S. Cyber Command, said at a security conference last week in Aspen, Colorado, according to a video of the event.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Drajem in Washington at mdrajem@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Steve Geimann at sgeimann@bloomberg.net