MASSIVE OPM HACK EVEN WORSE THAN THOUGHT: OPM Hack Far Deeper Than Publicly Acknowledged, Went Undetected For More Than A Year, Sources Say.

The massive hack into federal systems announced last week was far deeper and potentially more problematic than publicly acknowledged, with hackers believed to be from China moving through government databases undetected for more than a year, sources briefed on the matter told ABC News.

“If [only] they knew the full extent of it,” one U.S. official said about those affected by the intrusion into the Office of Personnel Management’s information systems.

It all started with an initial intrusion into OPM’s systems more than a year ago, and after gaining that initial access the hackers were able to work their way through four different “segments” of OPM’s systems, according to sources.

Much of that data has been stored on OPM systems housed by the Department of the Interior in a Denver-area data center, sources said. And one of the four “segments” compromised held forms filled out by federal employees seeking security clearances.

As ABC News previously reported, the 127-page forms — known as SF-86’s and used for background investigations — ask applicants for personal information not only about themselves but also relatives, friends, and potentially even college roommates.

But wait, it gets worse: Report: Hack of government employee records discovered by product demo: Security tools vendor found breach, active over a year, at OPM during sales pitch.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the breach was indeed discovered in April. But according to sources who spoke to the WSJ’s Damian Paletta and Siobhan Hughes, it was in fact discovered during a sales demonstration of a network forensics software package called CyFIR by its developer, CyTech Services. “CyTech, trying to show OPM how its cybersecurity product worked, ran a diagnostics study on OPM’s network and discovered malware was embedded on the network,” Paletta and Hughes reported.
Further Reading
Why the “biggest government hack ever” got past the feds

Inertia, a lack of internal expertise, and a decade of neglect at OPM led to breach.

And, according to federal investigators, that malware may have been in place for over a year. US intelligence agencies have joined the investigation into the breach. But it’s still not even clear what data was accessed by the attackers.

Meanwhile, the breach has triggered outrage from unions representing federal employees.

This allows a foreign nation to go to war with federal employees on a personal basis.

ANN ALTHOUSE: Did NPR host Diane Rehm just make an honest mistake when she said to Bernie Sanders “Senator, you have dual citizenship with Israel…”?

It was only last weekend that Bernie Sanders shocked the Clinton campaign in the Wisconsin straw poll by getting 41% to Hillary’s 49%. He’s not an amusing sideline anymore. What can be done to keep Democrats from drifting his way?

An outright lie about him doesn’t work, does it? Well, yes it does! It made everyone take notice that Bernie Sanders is Jewish. He’s not an Israeli citizen. That’s cleared up, but the impression remains: He’s Jewish. That stirs up any free-floating anti-Jewishness that may be useful to his opponent. It stirs up suspicion that Sanders feels affiliated with Israel in a way that is inconsistent with the American presidency. I’m sure many people hadn’t even noticed that Sanders is Jewish, and now we all know that, and we know additional facts. From the first link above, which goes to Politico: “Sanders, who is Jewish, has visited Israel several times and spent several months working on a communal farm called a Kibbutz in the 1960s.”

That’s all powerfully useful to Hillary. Am I supposed to believe this was a mere oopsie by a nice old lady? She’s 78, give her a pass? Did you know Diane Rehm is an Arab?

Like Helen Thomas. And, of course, calling attention to Sanders’ Jewishness is particularly useful because he’s a favorite of the progressive left, and in today’s America the progressive left is increasingly anti-semitic.

IT’S A BAD HABIT SHE HAS: Hans Von Spakovsky: Clinton Gets Everything Wrong on Voting:

She insists that state legislative initiatives to improve the integrity of our election process are a “sweeping effort to disempower and disenfranchise people of color.” Wrong. Instead, as Roger Clegg of the Center for Equal Opportunity aptly puts it, states are engaged in “the usual effort to strike the right balance between facilitating voting by eligible voters and preventing voting by ineligible voters.”

Clinton’s assertion is hard to reconcile with the U.S. Census Bureau’s finding that blacks voted at a higher level than whites by two percentage points in the 2012 election. Moreover, the Justice Department didn’t file a single case in 2014 (or, thus far, in 2015) under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act alleging the disenfranchisement of people of color.

Clinton also claimed that students and grandmothers are being turned away from the polls in Texas because of its voter-ID law. But there is no evidence that this is occurring. In state elections in 2013, turnout almost doubled in comparison with the 2011 state election (when the ID law was not in place) — including in heavily minority areas, some of which had even greater increases in turnout. And the few people who don’t have an ID are provided with one free of charge by Texas authorities.

Voter anti-fraud laws aren’t about “disenfranchising” anyone. They’re about ensuring the integrity of our constitutional republic, by implementing commonsense measures to restrict voting to those who are eligible to vote. Democrats like Clinton, by contrast, have every incentive to loosen anti-fraud measures, so that ineligible voters–mostly convicted felons, students (who want to vote outside their state of legal residency) and illegal immigrants–can vote, as Democrats know that these ineligibles are highly likely to vote for Democrats.

Plus, invoking the “disenfranchisement” rhetoric–with an added dose of “Jim Crow” references for good measure–are designed to gin up black and other minority turnout in a 2016 presidential election that will not have the same minority pull as when Obama was on the ballot.

IN THE BAD OLD DAYS OF THE PATRIARCHY, WE HAD REMBRANDT AND DA VINCI. NOW WE HAVE THIS: The digital artist who’s dating a teddy bear; Cyber feminist Molly Soda on her new exhibition and why she opted for a public relationship with a cuddly toy.

AT AMAZON, Outlet Deals in Home Audio & Theater.

Plus, deals in Industrial, Business & Scientific Supplies.

COME ON. TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE. I’m Sooo Bored of Being Gay.

All the best sex – in fact, all the best things in life – are transgressive and naughty. But there’s a problem when forbidden fruits go mainstream. When you teach yourself to be excited solely by transgressive acts, and end up only really happy when you’re breaking rules or upsetting someone, you’re at the mercy of changing fashions. . . .

So I find myself in the perplexing position of asking: what’s next? Casting my eye around modern Britain, in the last few months I’ve been on the look-out for the most marginalised, ridiculed and socially ostracised slice of the population. And I think I’ve nailed it: it’s time for me to become a straight white male.

Party like it’s 1969.

TREADMILL DESKS: Better For Your Body Than For Your Mind? “The results, when the researchers compared the treadmill walkers with the people sitting at their desks, substantially favored sitting. The people who had walked during the testing performed worse on almost all aspects of thinking, including the ability to concentrate and remember, compared with those who had been seated. And they were much worse at typing, being substantially slower and more error prone than the sitting group. . . . In the current study, he said, it appears that using a treadmill desk sopped up some of the volunteers’ available cognitive resources. By devoting a portion of their thinking to keeping themselves balanced on the treadmill, they became marginally less able to reason and remember. This was a very limited, one-time test of people’s performance while using a treadmill desk or staying seated. It is extremely likely, Dr. Larson said, that if people repeatedly use a treadmill desk, they become accustomed to its effects and get better at walking, typing and thinking simultaneously.”

SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT THE EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE? It’s not extinction if we change ourselves into something else.

MARK RIPPETOE: More Health and Strength Nonsense From the Mainstream Media.

USING DRONES TO CHECK PLANES FOR LIGHTNING DAMAGE.

AT AMAZON, deals galore at the Men’s Denim Store.

Plus, deals on Hunting & Tactical Knives.

And please remember: InstaPundit is an Amazon affiliate. When you do your shopping through the Amazon links on this page, including the “Shop Amazon” tab at the top or the searchbox in the right sidebar, you support this blog at no cost to yourself. Just click on the Amazon link, then shop as usual. I very much appreciate it when you do.

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE, LEGAL EDUCATION EDITION: Why I’m Glad I Gave Up My Dream Of Going To Law School.

SPACE: Planetary Society’s Solar Sail Test a Success in Space. “An experimental solar sail is being called a success three weeks after its arrival in space. The Planetary Society said Wednesday its test flight resulted in an almost full deployment of the sail — an estimated 90 percent to 95 percent of the 344-square feet light and shiny surface — and has set the stage for a follow-up mission next year. The goal is to create a sail that can be propelled through space by sunlight, thus opening exploration to practically anyone, anywhere.”

CYBERWAR: Stepson of Stuxnet stalked Kaspersky for months, tapped Iran nuke talks.

THE WAPO’S ERIK WEMPLE: Jake Tapper’s exclusive Bill Clinton interview: A timeline. “CNN is trading ethical purity for exclusivity. And in its defense, it knows well that its competitors are willing to do likewise. Heck, they already have! Last year, David Gregory, then of NBC News, did essentially the same twofer that Tapper and Harlow are doing — all against the backdrop of the Clinton Global Initiative banner. Top Clinton Foundation spokesman Craig Minassian says that the template dates back nearly a decade.”

I like Tapper, but as I said before, just because he pulled out as a speaker/moderator to be replaced by someone else from CNN doesn’t make CNN any less involved in the Clintons’ program.

MORE ON THE HUGO WARS: Nazi is not a term you throw around lightly.

Also: An open letter to Tom Doherty of Tor Books.

POPULAR MECHANICS: How To Get Crisp Lines With Painter’s Tape.

MOTHER JONES: Study Confirms Stereotype About Crazy Cat Ladies.

ED MORRISSEY: The NY Times Just Made Rubio the Hero of the Struggling Middle Class.

Plus, related thoughts from Eliana Johnson.

TAXPROF ROUNDUP: The IRS Scandal, Day 763.

ROGER SIMON INTERVIEW: Roger Simon Talks Border Security With Rick Perry.

WOULD POOR PEOPLE prefer cash instead of Medicaid?

In a new paper, Amy Finkelstein, Nathaniel Hendren and Erzo F.P. Luttmer note that the Congressional Budget Office values the transfer at the amount of money the government is spending on Medicaid. But of course, the value to recipients of any “in kind” benefit has only a weak relationship to the actual amount of money spent. If I give you a Doberman pinscher and $3,000 worth of shampoo samples marked “not for resale,” I have certainly transferred something with value, but most people would probably not pay $3,000-plus for it, even if they had the money.

So instead, they looked at data from the Oregon Medicaid Study to try to get a more nuanced assessment of the actual value to the people the benefit is supposed to be for. Here’s what they came up with: “Our baseline estimates of the welfare benefit to recipients from Medicaid per dollar of government spending range from about $0.2 to $0.4, depending on the framework, with a relatively robust lower bound of about $0.15.” You read that right: 15 cents of value for every dollar spent.

Not that unusual for a government program, I suspect, with the graft-value probably being considerably higher. Also, being on Medicaid doesn’t seem to make you live any longer.

ON TRADE, OBAMA CURRENTLY DOESN’T HAVE THE VOTES: “The most troubling bloc is several dozen who aren’t normally troublesome but come from Midwestern districts where job losses in manufacturing have been heavy. Supporting trade is not easy for them. Still, Ryan and GOP leaders believe they can hit their mark of 190 to 200 Republican votes. That leaves Democrats to fill the gap. Leadership, both Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, have been completely silent on the issue and their advisers say that, given the antipathy toward this legislation among rank-and-file, public silence is the best the West Wing can get. There are roughly 20 public yes votes among Democrats, and Obama will need at least five to 10 more in order to go ahead with the vote Friday.”

I think any new sweeping, unclear trade policy should await the election of a President we can trust. Also, why aren’t all these opposed Dems being accused of being “obstructionist” and probably racist, too?

ALLUM BOKHARI: Will Reddit Revolt Against Ellen Pao? “When failed discrimination plaintiff Ellen Pao was appointed CEO of Reddit last January, many predicted that it would herald a new age of censorship on the link-sharing and discussion site. Those predictions appear to have come true, as a number of communities on the site (known as ‘subreddits’) have just been unilaterally shut down.”

Censorship is damage. Route around it. It’s not like Reddit’s success is based on technology that no one else can emulate.