Hackers compromised CCleaner free software, Avast's Piriform says

VULNERABLE: Investigators say that the hackers who breached the databases of the Office of Personnel Management could have obtained the names of Chinese relatives, friends and associates of American diplomats and other government officials, leaving them vulnerable to blackmail or retaliation, the Times said.

SAN FRANCISCO: Hackers broke into British company Piriform Ltd's free software that optimises computer performance last month, potentially allowing them to control the devices of millions of users, the company and independent researchers said on Sept 18.

More than two million people downloaded tainted versions of Piriform's program, which then directed the computers to get instructions from servers under the hacker's control, Piriform said.