When it comes to role models, most federal agencies don’t look to the U.S. Postal Service for leadership or innovation.  But not for the obvious yuk, yuk, reasons.

The USPS is one of the government’s giant operations.  The amount of mail traffic it handles, and the distance it will haul a letter for 49 cents puts other national postal service’s to shame.

Like other federal operations, the USPS is a prime target of hackers.  Last November, it disclosed that PII (personally identifable information)  of 800,000 employees had been “compromised.” Hackers also got pay records of 485,000 employees plus more than 2.9 million customer inquiry records.  For an inquiry as complex as this, it moved at top speed.  This week the Service’s Inspector General issued a thick report on the who, what, when, where of what happened.  The “why” the data was taken and what will be done with it is anybody’s guess.

Government agencies might do well to check out the IG’s report to see what can be done, from top to bottom, to hack-proof vital data and PII records.  Government workers might benefit by looking at the one-page executive summary for their own information and protection.

Meantime, 22 million current, former, retired and wanna-be feds are worrying about the two massive data hacks at the Office of Personnel Management.  The hackers got pay, grade and home address information, Social Security numbers and — if you are one of them  — your Mother’s maiden name, a favorite (sometime required) part of your password or security code system.  They also got information on people who applied for security clearances and information on people seeking federal jobs.  That’s a lot of people, and a lot of data. Odds are either you are one, or you have a friend, relative or neighbor who has been burned.  Could they be using it to develop a social network profile of you, or your kids? And if so, why?

The question is what next? What will the hackers do with the information? Is this a one-off action, or will hack attacks increase in intensity and numbers? Is this the new normal?

At 10 a.m. today we’ll talk with Federal Times editor Jill R. Aitoro about the OPM hack.  Like most of the federal media community, she’s been tracking the situation and has some interesting takes from the private sector. That’s at 10 a.m. ET streaming here on FederalNewsRadio.com or in the D.C. area on 1500 AM.

Nearly Useless Factoid:

By Michael O’Connell

While the U.S. Postal Service has no official “creed,” the familiar “Neither snow nor rain …” motto is inscribed on the James Farley Post Office in New York City.

Source: Wikipedia

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