Hack of Contractor Was at Root of Massive Federal Data Breach
Failures in cybersecurity practices at a software company that helps federal agencies manage investigations and FOIA requests allowed two convicted hackers to delete databases, according to internal documents.
Suhaib Akhter, left, and Muneeb Akhter in 2011.
Photographer: Shamus Ian Fatzinger/Fairfax County Times/The Washington Post/Getty Images
A software company that handles sensitive data for nearly every US federal agency was the victim of a cyber breach earlier this year due to a "major lapse" in security measures, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg News.
Opexus, which is owned by the private equity firm Thoma Bravo and provides software services for processing US government records, was compromised in February by two employees who'd previously been convicted of hacking into the US State Department. The findings were detailed in separate reports by Opexus and an independent cybersecurity firm. Opexus characterized the incident as an “insider threat attack.”