China hacked the FDIC - and US officials covered it up, report says

China's spies hacked into computers at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation from 2010 until 2013 -- and American government officials tried to cover it up, according to a Congressional report. The House of Representative's Science, Space and Technology Committee released its investigative report on July 13. It presents the FDIC's bank regulators as technologically inept -- and deceitful.

According to congressional investigators, the Chinese government hacked into 12 computers and 10 backroom servers at the FDIC, including the incredibly sensitive personal computers of the agency's top officials: the FDIC chairman, his chief of staff, and the general counsel. When congressional investigators tried to review the FDIC's cybersecurity policy, the agency hid the hack, according to the report. Investigators cited several insiders who knew about how the agency responded. For example, one of the FDIC's top lawyers told employees not to discuss the hacks via e-mail -- so the e-mails wouldn't become official government records. FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg is being summoned before the Congressional committee on July 14 to explain what happened.