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Md. Congressman Furious Over Federal Hacking Attack

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There is new backlash over the government employees hacking attack. Millions of workers are affected, hundreds of thousands in Maryland. The federal agency responsible for protecting personal information is under fire.

Rick Ritter with the outrage from a Maryland congressman.

Congressman Elijah Cummings says they need to approach this attack with the same urgency they use when fighting ISIS. The woman in charge of protecting this information is now taking some heavy hits.

The biggest cyber attack ever against the government--detrimental to at least four million federal workers.

"Federal employees' records have been breached. That's a real problem," said Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings.

Putting the director of the Office of Personnel Management in the hot seat.

"You have completely and utterly failed at that mission, if that was your objective," said  Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz.

Information of workers compromised by suspected Chinese hackers--everything from social security numbers to highly personal details of employees with security clearances.

The breach hits Maryland hard--a state where 1 of every 10 workers is a federal government employee.

"Not a thing you can do right now--until they find a way to stop it," said one federal worker.

In a hearing Tuesday, many demand answers from Director Katherine Archuleta, wondering why the hacked data was never encrypted and the inspector general's recommendations were ignored.

"He recommended shutting it down after last year, and you--you made a conscious decision to not do that," said Chaffetz.

Many calling for her to resign. Congressman Elijah Cummings--furious over the attacks.

"I think we have to deal with them with the same type of urgency that we should be dealing with ISIS," said Rep. Cummings.

Knowing the government now has a target on their back.

The director says the hack has to do with computer problems that date back decades. She believes it could have been much worse.

The government has offered the affected employees 18 months of free credit monitoring.

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