When it comes to the privacy of our personal information, we all get a little nervous - and rightly so.
Recent revelations about the data breach of federal employees’ highly personal information possibly by Chinese hackers are deeply troubling. Equally as disturbing are reports that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) knew about the breach, past breaches and about vulnerabilities in their system for over a year.
The sheer volume of federal employees impacted by the breach is astounding. It was only on July 9, 2015, that OPM finally disclosed that information from 21.5 million people was stolen in one of the recently disclosed hacks.
The Obama administration must be forthcoming with the real facts of the OPM breach so that this does not happen again. Action to fix and improve the OPM data system must be quick, not bogged down in the finger pointing and bureaucracy that is so coveted by Washington insiders. The resignation of OPM Director Katherine Archuleta is a good start.
Americans deserve to know the truth and to see that their government can actually fix the problem.
A recent Wall Street Journal editorial entitled, “The Chinese Have Your Numbers,” describes the hack as true government incompetence, stating, “...this isn’t a James Bond movie. It’s a Dilbert cartoon. Despite years of warnings, and after the Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden debacles, the federal bureaucracy can’t protect its most basic data from hackers.”
Congress has been looking into the failures within OPM that led to the breach.
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform recently held hearings to help members learn more about the breach, the security measures used by OPM, and to seek solutions.
The OPM director submitted testimony stating the agency is the frequent target of intrusion attempts – to the tune of 10 million attempts in an average month.
If you have been affected by the OPM data breach, you can visit the website www.csid.com/opm to learn about how to enroll in the CSID identity protection program.
Many Americans have also been victimized by cybercriminals targeting private sector companies. These breaches cost both consumers and companies billions of dollars each year and can have a long-term impact on people’s credit.
Ensuring people’s sensitive data and information is very important. That is why the House Energy and Commerce Committee, on which I serve, adopted legislation aimed at protecting our data. The Data Security and Breach Notification Act (H.R. 1770) is a bipartisan effort that also included input from affected industries. The bill has not yet gone to the House floor for a vote.
Among other measures, H.R. 1770 requires certain security standards and also notification to consumers whose data has been determined to have been breached no later than 30 days after the determination, so they can begin to take steps to protect themselves.
Always be cautious in providing personal information. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website, www.consumer.ftc.gov has great resources for those who have fallen victim to identity theft, as well as helpful information about computer hijacking and protection from other types of scams.
Unfortunately, the security of our personal information is a problem that we must continue to deal with – and try to always stay ahead of.
