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OPM revises estimate on 2nd breach; new total is 21.5 million affected

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Dissent

OPM has issued an updated statement on its lousy infosecurity two recently detected breaches. It reads, in part:

OPM recently discovered two cyber-security incidents that have impacted the data of Federal government employees, contractors, and others:

In April 2015, OPM discovered that the personnel data of 4.2 million current and former Federal government employees had been stolen. This means information such as full name, birth date, home address and Social Security Numbers were affected. This number has not changed since it was announced by OPM in early June and you should have already received a notification if you were impacted.

While investigating this incident, in early June 2015, OPM discovered that additional information had been compromised: including background investigation records of current, former, and prospective Federal employees and contractors. OPM and the interagency incident response team have concluded with high confidence that sensitive information, including the Social Security Numbers (SSNs) of 21.5 million individuals, was stolen from the background investigation databases. This includes 19.7 million individuals that applied for a background investigation, and 1.8 million non-applicants, primarily spouses or co-habitants of applicants. Some records also include findings from interviews conducted by background investigators and approximately 1.1 million include fingerprints. Usernames and passwords that background investigation applicants used to fill out their background investigation forms were also stolen. Notifications for this incident have not yet begun.

While background investigation records do contain some information regarding mental health and financial history provided by applicants and people contacted during the background investigation, there is no evidence that health, financial, payroll and retirement records of Federal personnel or those who have applied for a Federal job were impacted by this incident (for example, annuity rolls, retirement records, USA JOBS, Employee Express).

OPM and an interagency team from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) have been investigating these incidents, and are working to put in place changes that will prevent similar thefts in the future.

You can read their full statement and FAQ on their site.

Update and Correction: Post-publication, the headline was corrected to reflect that the 21.5 million is the total for both incidents and not just for the second incident.

Related posts:

  • OPM notifying 4 million current and former federal employees of hack
  • US Government Intervenes In False Claims Lawsuit Against United States Investigations Services For Failing To Perform Required Quality Reviews Of Background Investigations
  • OPM OIG Audit Finds Significant Problems Remain
  • OPM Gives Green Light to Start Submitting Data Breach Verification Requests
Category: Government SectorHackOf NoteU.S.

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