National Archives Data Breach Affects 250,000

A data breach at the National Archives and Records Administration is more serious than previously believed. It involved sensitive personal information of 250,000 Clinton administration staff members, job applicants and White House visitors.

The data, which included more than 100,000 Social Security numbers, was stored on a computer hard drive that the NARA discovered missing last April from a data processing room in Maryland. It’s unknown if the drive was lost or stolen.

In December, NARA sent out an additional 150,000 notification letters as further investigation of the data copied onto the missing drive identified more potential victims, including the daughter of former Vice President Al Gore.

Those affected included administration staffers, people who applied for jobs within the administration and visitors to the White House during Clinton’s presidency. There was also data collected from the Executive Office staff, the Secret Service and variety of event and social gathering logs.

NARA is offering one year of free credit monitoring services those people affected and is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the recovery of the missing drive.