It was time to purge the hacker from the U.S. government's computers. After secretly monitoring the hacker's online movements for months, officials worried he was getting too close to critical information and devised a plan, dubbed "the Big Bang," to expel it.
The report by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform faulted the personnel agency for failing to secure sensitive data despite warnings for years that it was vulnerable to hackers.
"But once they had been convinced there was a breach, they took it very seriously," said Cylance co-founder and chief executive Stuart McClure in an interview.
It said officials muted the public about the scope of the breach and also by saying the two breaches were unrelated when, instead, "they appear to be connected and possibly coordinated," according to the congressional report.