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posted by takyon on Thursday June 04 2015, @10:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the nothing-personnel-kid dept.

The Office of Personnel Management has confirmed that around 4 million current and past employees have been affected by a data breach, potentially exposing personal data. Unnamed U.S. officials say that the hackers were from China.

Here is the U.S. Office of Personnel Management's statement:

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) recently became aware of a cybersecurity incident affecting its systems and data that may have compromised the personal information of current and former Federal employees.

Within the last year, OPM has undertaken an aggressive effort to update its cybersecurity posture, adding numerous tools and capabilities to its networks. As a result, in April 2015, OPM became aware of the incident affecting its information technology (IT) systems and data that predated the adoption of these security controls.

Since the incident was identified, OPM has partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the impact to Federal personnel. OPM immediately implemented additional security measures to protect the sensitive information it manages.

Beginning June 8 and continuing through June 19, OPM will be sending notifications to approximately 4 million individuals whose Personally Identifiable Information was potentially compromised in this incident. The email will come from opmcio@csid.com and it will contain information regarding credit monitoring and identity theft protection services being provided to those Federal employees impacted by the data breach. In the event OPM does not have an email address for the individual on file, a standard letter will be sent via the U.S. Postal Service.

In order to mitigate the risk of fraud and identity theft, OPM is offering affected individuals credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance with CSID, a company that specializes in identity theft protection and fraud resolution. This comprehensive, 18-month membership includes credit report access, credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and recovery services and is available immediately at no cost to affected individuals identified by OPM.

Additional information is available beginning at 8 a.m. CST on June 8, 2015 on the company's website, www.csid.com/opm, and by calling toll-free 844-222-2743 (International callers: call collect 512-327-0700).

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2015, @03:42PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 05 2015, @03:42PM (#192570)

    My ssn is 567-68-0515

    Mine is 111-11-1111. Go ahead and steal my identity!!!