(Bloomberg) -- The fingerprint records of about 5.6 million current and former federal workers, contractors and job applicants were stolen in the breach of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s computer system, up from an initial estimate of 1.1 million, the agency said Wednesday.
The breach is significant because fingerprints are increasingly being used by government agencies, corporations and consumers for access to computers, buildings and other devices.
“Federal experts believe that, as of now, the ability to misuse fingerprint data is limited,” Samuel Schumach, a spokesman for OPM, which is the federal government’s jobs agency, said in a statement. “However, this probability could change over time as technology evolves.”
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