“The government has pledged to notify each affected employee of the hack and offer services to help counter any abuse of their information.”
Oh really? Somehow I knew they’d get preferential treatment. When identity theft happens to Joe Schmo, you’re on your own, Buddy. You have to prove your innocence without any compassion whatsoever. And absolutely no information. Recently happened to me ..my SS# was used to collect government assistance. Long story short, no help in figuring out how, why, when, and a real stink of a “too bad” attitude. I hope they are squirming, and the ones who deserve it get it back in spades.
It’s not preferential treatment. Commercial companies also offer free credit monitoring for one year as SOP when they admit to getting hacked.
However, this hack compromises cleared employees more than you apparently understand. It’s not about ID theft at all.