(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. government’s humanresources director resigned Friday, a White House official said, aday after disclosing that hackers stole personal data for more than22 million people in one of the worst security breaches inhistory.

Katherine Archuleta, director of the Office of PersonnelManagement, stepped down after several lawmakers in both partiescomplained that she had failed to install appropriate safeguardsfor the government’s records and did not quickly detect or addressthe breach.

President Barack Obama, who appointed Archuleta in 2013,accepted the resignation as his administration pledged to step upits cybersecurity efforts and help the 22.1 million people whosedata was stolen.

Archuleta’s agency disclosed the full scope of the breach forthe first time on Thursday. Hackers accessed Social Securitynumbers, fingerprints, contact information, and user names andpasswords of federal employees, contractors and their spousesdating back more than a decade.

“Too much trust has been lost, and too much damage has beendone,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement on Thursday.“President Obama must take a strong stand against incompetence inhis administration and instill new leadership at OPM so we can moveforward in a fashion that begins to restore the confidence of theAmerican people.”

Boehner, McCain

Boehner was joined by Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthyof California and Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Louisiana incalling for Archuleta’s firing. In the Senate, Democrat Mark Warnerof Virginia and Republican John McCain of Arizona said she shouldbe replaced.

Archuleta told reporters on Thursday that she had no plans toresign and was working to improve cybersecurity at the departmentand provide credit-monitoring services to those affected by thehack.

“When I took office in late 2013 one of my priorities was toupgrade OPM’s antiquated legacy system,” she said. “It is becauseof the efforts of OPM and its staff that we’ve been able toidentify the breaches.”

Obama administration officials have defended Archuleta since thebreach was disclosed last month, crediting her office withunearthing the intrusion during a project to upgrade security ongovernment networks.

“Over the last year, as director Archuleta noted, OPM has beenaggressively improving its security,” Andy Ozment, assistantsecretary of the Office of Cybersecurity and Communications at theDepartment of Homeland Security, told reporters on Thursday. “OPMcaught an intrusion because of the tools that it had rolledout.”

Chinese government

The Chinese government is a top suspect in the attack, accordingto Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, some lawmakersand cybersecurity companies that conduct forensicsinvestigations.

In two separate intrusions, the hackers gained access to U.S.government records for almost a year beginning last May, Ozmentsaid. Most of the records relate to people who had applied for abackground investigation, the personnel agency said.

OPM said it would provide free credit monitoring for peoplewhose data was stolen. Along with other federal agencies, it istaking several steps to upgrade and defend its network, Archuletasaid.

A government-wide 30-day effort to review cybersecurity effortswill wrap up later this month.

--With assistance from Chris Strohm in Washington.

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