The Office of Personnel Management recently updated a webpage devoted to providing the public with information about its efforts to address last summer's cyber breach.

Acting OPM Director Beth Cobert announced a series of updates related to the agency’s initiatives in the wake of the breach that which exposed the personal information of 21.5 million people.

"We want to take a moment to update you on our continued response, including what services we have provided to those impacted by these intrusions, what OPM and its interagency partners are doing to enhance cybersecurity, and the steps all federal employees can take to practice good cyber hygiene," Cobert said in a letter to federal employees.

The new Frequently Asked Questions page provides users with sections explaining what occurred during the hack, what information was taken, who was impacted as a result and ongoing efforts by OPM to both improve its cybersecurity and offer protections to those affected.

The agency noted on its FAQ page that because background investigation information was exposed in the hack, additional people may have been impacted beyond the 21.5 million identified.

But OPM said in these cases that the Social Security numbers of the individuals were not exposed, so the credit and identity protections won't be extended. The agency also didn't specify how many were impacted.

"In many cases, the information about these people is the same as what is generally available in public forums such as online directories or social media, and generally does not present the same level of risk of identity theft or other issues," the site said. "While services will not be provided to you at no cost, there are a number of steps you can take to protect your identity."

Cobert also said in her letter that OPM had increased its identity theft insurance coverages from $1 million to $5 million and was working on extending credit and identity protection coverage to up to 10 years.

OPM has completed sending out letter to federal employees whose information was compromised in the breach but said about 10 percent of the letters were returned due to old or incorrect addresses.

Cobert said the agency was continuing to contact those employees with new letters.

Share:
In Other News
Load More