Earlier this month, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced one of the largest known breaches of government databases in U.S. history — a breach that compromised the personal data of 21.5 million people. That’s a staggering number, and the recent breach was one more in a growing class of sophisticated cyberattacks in the public and private sectors. Last Thursday, I held an Identity Theft and Fraud Prevention Forum to discuss how we can strengthen identity theft prevention and recovery services for victims. If we’re going to meet the challenge of cybersecurity in the 21st century, we have to act now.
At the forum, I got the chance to meet some of the families and workers who had their Social Security numbers and other personal information stolen through the data breach at OPM. Many victims of the recent hack were either federal workers or contractors who applied for a security clearance through OPM. From the federal employees working to serve and assist our veterans to the men and women guarding our airports and borders, our federal government has an obligation to protect the federal workforce, and the recent OPM data breach was a breach of trust.
The theft of a Social Security number can’t be undone, and the threat of identity fraud is going to follow victims of the OPM data breach for life. In my mind, so should fraud-protection services. Last week, I joined Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton as an original co-sponsor of the RECOVER Act, a bill to provide victims of the OPM hack with free lifetime identity theft protection coverage. The coverage currently offered by OPM guarantees only three years of protection, after which victims of identity theft could still be subject to identity fraud. Our federal employees deserve better than that, and I was proud to support legislation to help secure the future of data breach victims so they can focus on serving our country.
Washington County is home to more than 2,500 federal employees and nearly 2,000 retired federal workers. When their personal information is exposed, these men and women and their families are put at risk of attack. The federal workers I’ve met in Washington County deserve better than that, and I’ve made their security a top priority.
At my Identity Theft and Fraud Prevention Forum last week, more than 275 attendees got a chance to talk one-on-one with representatives from OPM, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Maryland State Police and other experts about steps they can take in case of identity fraud. Attorney General Brian Frosh, who has championed enforcement of data security laws, also joined the event in Germantown, Md., and shared his ideas on consumer protection.
In the wake of the OPM data breach, I believe it’s important that our government provide victims with a clear way forward and the information they need about personal and financial risks. In the coming months, I plan to host another Identity Theft Protection Workshop, this time in Washington County, to help keep all my constituents up to date with the latest on identity theft and fraud. Our government should be in the position of strengthening the security of Americans online, not exposing their personal information to attack.
If you were a victim of the recent data breaches at OPM, I encourage you to call a special help line set up by OPM at 1-844-777-2743 or visit http://ift.tt/1JC9lSn for more information on what you can do to recover.
In addition to protecting those who’ve been affected by the data breach at OPM, it’s important that our government takes action to invest in cybersecurity and to hold hackers accountable in order to deter future attacks. Whether they’re state-sponsored actors or a rogue organization, these criminals should know that the United States will find those responsible and bring them to justice. We have a responsibility to our federal workers, to our taxpayers and to those affected by the recent OPM data breaches to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
In order to strengthen our cybersecurity, we’re also going to need to make sure that federal agencies are hiring the right people for the job. The data stored at OPM presents a major security risk for the United States, and protecting that data is a responsibility too important to put in the hands of politically appointed managers without a relevant background. As a former CEO, I know that there’s a level of technical sophistication that’s needed in management in the modern world. As we continue to build a strategy for strengthening our country’s cybersecurity, bringing cutting-edge experience into government will be a central challenge.
As the investigation into the OPM data breach moves forward, I will continue to make the personal and financial security of victims a top priority. While there’s still a lot we don’t know, we can be sure of at least one thing: If we want to strengthen our national security and the security of our families, the time to act on cybersecurity is now.
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