Millions hit by personal data hack still have not been told

Reuters ^ | 9/1/15 | Mark Hosenball

[markomalley]

The U.S. government has not yet notified any of the 21.5 million federal employees and contractors whose security clearance data was hacked more than three months ago, officials acknowledged on Tuesday.

The agency whose data was hacked, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), said the Defense Department will begin "later this month" to notify employees and contractors across the government that their personal information was accessed by hackers.

OPM said notifications would continue over several weeks and "will be sent directly to impacted individuals."

OPM also announced that it hired a contractor to help protect the identities and credit ratings of employees whose data was hacked.

In a statement, OPM said it had awarded a contract initially worth more than $133 million to a company called Identity Theft Guard Solutions LLC, doing business as ID experts, for identity theft protections for the 21.5 million victims of the security data breach. The contractor will provide credit and identity monitoring services for three years, as well as identity theft insurance, to affected individuals and dependent children aged under 18, the agency said.

[markomalley]

Oh, by the way, before the inevitable "stupid government a$$holes deserve to have their information hacked" comments, keep in mind that military members with clearances have their investigations done by OPM (Federal Security Service).

[jazusamo]

BUMP!

[married21]

Employees of defense contractors are included in this mess because of their security clearances. My husband is confident that our family will be caught in this web, although we certainly have not been notified.

[Jarhead9297]

I stopped at “21.5 million federal employees “ how in the hell do we have that many!?

[markomalley]

I stopped at “21.5 million federal employees “ how in the hell do we have that many!?

Think about:

• Almost all military members have at least a SECRET clearance. How many military members have we cumulatively had in the past 20 years?
• Almost all federal employees have at least some variety of "public trust" determination, if not a security clearance. How many federal employees, cumulatively, have we had in the past 20 years?
• A significant percentage of government contractors (working in the defense industry, as well as contractors supporting other government agencies) have security clearances or public trust determinations. How many contractors, cumulatively, have we had in the past 20 years?
• A measurable percentage of state employees require some sort of investigation for a clearance or restricted access to data.

If you were in the service and had a clearance for 4 years back in the 90s, you're in that database. If you had a job for a couple of years supporting a defense contractor like Lockheed, Northrop, Raytheon, etc., and had a clearance, you're in that database. If you were in ROTC and had to get cleared in order to go on summer training, you're in that database.

I can easily see 21.5 million. And that doesn't include the information on neighbors and family members that are collected for people with clearances that required an actual background investigation.

[Jet Jaguar]

Active Duty/Contractor/NAF ping.

OPM has yet to notify my spouse. Former NAF with clearance.

[Lopeover]

Obama is responsible for this!

[laplata]

“I stopped at “21.5 million federal employees “ how in the hell do we have that many!”?

And contractors. You should have kept reading.

[Jarhead9297]

That is just as bad. The government beast needs reduction by 80% FTE/FTE alike

[Jarhead9297]

FTC/FTE

[tacticalogic]

In a statement, OPM said it had awarded a contract initially worth more than $133 million to a company called Identity Theft Guard Solutions LLC, doing business as ID experts, for identity theft protections for the 21.5 million victims of the security data breach. The contractor will provide credit and identity monitoring services for three years, as well as identity theft insurance, to affected individuals and dependent children aged under 18, the agency said.

That comes to about $6.18 per person. What kind of "credit and identity monitoring services for three years, as well as identity theft insurance" do you figure you can get for $6.18?

[LucyT]

Check out article and # 5 .

.

[laplata]

I agree.

Thanks for your service.

[Jarhead9297]

Thank you!

[grey_whiskers]

That comes to about $6.18 per person. What kind of "credit and identity monitoring services for three years, as well as identity theft insurance" do you figure you can get for $6.18?

Quite a bit, if you subcontract out the work to India or China... :-P

[NotQuiteCricket]

DOD already “lost” my information on a laptop 10 years ago, maybe less.

Whatever. Nothing to do except stay on top of the credit report.

[FlingWingFlyer]

Hey ‘RATS! How is that “historical” Obonzo thing workin’ out for ya?! Had enough yet? Hillary is going to be just as bad if not worse. Hillary believes that she is going to have to take away our Bill of Rights because we have been bad little capitalists and don’t “deserve” to have them.

[Myrddin]

My company warned the cleared employee based that we had been compromised. The government hasn't done squat in terms of covering identity theft and financial account monitoring.

[Brown Deer]

Almost all military members have at least a SECRET clearance.

Not true.

[Tunehead54]

Bogus company - looks like a gubmint shell No News - Identity+Theft+Guard+Solutions

Basic search - just wallpaper : Reads like they started yesterday ...

Night night. ;-)