Workforce

OPM completes first wave of cyber breach notification mailings

The Office of Personnel Management has sent notification letters to 93 percent of the 21.5 million victims impacted by the cyber breach.

Meredith Somers

December 11, 2015 5:34 pm

2 min read

The Office of Personnel Management has sent notification letters to more than 90 percent of the 21.5 million current and former federal employees and their family members impacted by the cyber breach.

The agency announced Friday that it had completed its initial mailing to roughly 93 percent of victims, and would continue to mail out letters as it collects current or more accurate addresses for letters that were returned.

“OPM and our partners across government remain committed to protecting the safety and security of the information provided to us,” said OPM Press Secretary Sam Schumach in a statement. “Together with our interagency partners, OPM is dedicated to delivering high-quality identity protection services to impacted individuals. The interagency team continues to review the impacted data to monitor for any misuse, and the U.S. Government will also continue to evaluate the coverage being provided and whether any adjustments are appropriate in association with this incident.”

OPM advises individuals who receive letters to confirm that it matches the examples of letters posted on the agency’s website. The letter will direct people to the department’s cybersecurity page. The letters are mailed through the Postal Service, not via email.

At the beginning of December, OPM said it had sent out more than 17 million letters and officially opened the verification center for individuals who haven’t received letters, but think they may have been impacted, and for those people who have received letters but their personal identification number (PIN) isn’t working or has been lost.

OPM says the site will be available through the end of December 2018. OPM says if individuals cannot get their questions answered online, they may request assistance by calling 866-408-4555 and speaking with an agent. The call center will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday.

Read all of Federal News Radio’s coverage of the OPM Cyber Breach