Five Months After the OPM Attack.

Katherine-Archuleta-Reuters-500x293.jpg

U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Katherine Archuleta rubs her eyes, as she testifies before a House Committee on Oversight and Government


The 21.5 million victims of the largest known breach of federal personnel data will begin receiving notifications at the end of September five months after the government first discovered the incident.
 
In announcing an initial $133 million award for protection services to a company called "ID Experts," US officials said they proceeded with caution to ensure they do not further inconvenience victims. The government plans to offer three years of credit and identity-protection services to impacted personnel, which brings the total value of the contract through December 2018 to more than $329.8 million.

While notices detailing the safeguards will not be sent until the end of the month, affected individuals are covered as of Tuesday, Office of Personnel Management officials said. The attack struck databases maintained by OPM.
Brokering a breach response contract "is something that has taken some time, because we want to do it right,” OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert said in a Tuesday evening call with reporters.
“And we also want to make sure that in the context of the notifications, we don't create any more national security issues than we have through the data that was stolen," she said. "As somebody whose data was stolen in this incident as well as in the previous one, I can understand the frustration that people feel. But we want to make sure that we're doing this right." 
The resources available, as previously announced, include credit monitoring, ID theft monitoring, ID theft insurance and ID restoration services for three years.

The giant hack, allegedly linked to Chinese spies, compromised the personal security of millions of past and present federal employees, personnel applying for "clearances" to handle classified secrets, and their family members. Clearance forms detail the medical histories, sex lives and other sensitive details of government officials who now could be subjected to blackmail, security experts say.

Portland-based I.D. Experts specializes in, among other things, medical identity theft, and the company was tapped by UCLA Health System in July to protect 4.5 million patients affected by a network breach there.
Experts familiar with the national security implications of the government data stolen helped OPM decide which protections to offer, officials said.
OPM “concluded that this was the appropriate set of services to offer for individuals given what has been taken," Cobert said.

Some of the 4.2 million victims of a smaller, related hack of personnel records complained that notifications received in response to that incident looked like malicious emails. The notifications, sent by contractor CSID, came from a dot-com email address and contained a link to a commercial website. This time, email notifications will come from either a dot-mil or dot-gov address, Cobert said.

The Defense Department -- instead of the contractor -- will be alerting all victims this go-round, officials added.
"We have the infrastructure and the logistics system to be able to accommodate such a massive notification," said Rear Adm. Althea "Allie" Coetzee, principal deputy for defense procurement and acquisition policy. "We believed that it would be a lot better handled and managed if one entity handled it -- coming from a government entity as opposed to a contractor.”
Notification by contractor "was definitely not part of the scope of work" of the contract, she added.
Security controls on the vendors’ own systems was a consideration during the vetting process, officials said.
OPM conferred with a team of cybersecurity, privacy, contracting and legal experts from agencies across the federal government, including the Pentagon and Federal Trade Commission, to help develop security provisions.
Companies competing for the project all submitted formal security plans as a part of their proposals. The government has a right to enter I.D. Experts’ facilities to make sure safeguards comply with the contract specifications, officials said.
"We got the expertise from several different perspectives and through that, we believe that we have the best security protections that are available currently," Cobert said.

The General Services Administration on Tuesday also announced winners of a $500 million five-year award to handle ID protection services for government breaches going forward.

Along with I.D. Experts, agreements were also inked with Bearak Reports, also known as "Identity Force," and Ladlas Prince. Services for OPM victims were purchased through the blanket deal.
Nextgov: http://bit.ly/1USONuS

 

« Russia & China Use Hacked Databases to Find US Spies
North Korean Leader Has His Own Cellular Network »

CyberSecurity Jobsite
Perimeter 81

Directory of Suppliers

Authentic8

Authentic8

Authentic8 transforms how organizations secure and control the use of the web with Silo, its patented cloud browser.

ZenGRC

ZenGRC

ZenGRC - the first, easy-to-use, enterprise-grade information security solution for compliance and risk management - offers businesses efficient control tracking, testing, and enforcement.

NordLayer

NordLayer

NordLayer is an adaptive network access security solution for modern businesses — from the world’s most trusted cybersecurity brand, Nord Security. 

ManageEngine

ManageEngine

As the IT management division of Zoho Corporation, ManageEngine prioritizes flexible solutions that work for all businesses, regardless of size or budget.

Syxsense

Syxsense

Syxsense brings together endpoint management and security for greater efficiency and collaboration between IT management and security teams.

iTrinegy

iTrinegy

iTrinegy is a world leader in Application Risk Management offering solutions to mitigate all networked application deployment risks

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

TAG's mission is to educate, promote, influence and unite Georgia's technology community to stimulate and enhance Georgia's tech-based economy.

CERT.LV

CERT.LV

CERT.LV is the national Computer Emergency Response Team for Latvia.

DXC Technology

DXC Technology

DXC Technology helps global companies run their mission critical systems and operations while modernizing IT, optimizing data architectures, and ensuring security and scalability.

SafeBreach

SafeBreach

SafeBreach's platform simulates hacker breach methods across the entire kill chain to identify breach scenarios in your environment before an attacker does.

V-Key

V-Key

V-Key is a global leader in software based digital security, providing solutions for mobile identity, authentication, authorization, and mobile payments for major banks.

Leadcomm

Leadcomm

Leadcomm is a Brazilian company focused on the distribution and integration of IT systems and security solutions for large companies.

Allied Telesis

Allied Telesis

Allied Telesis delivers the secure, flexible, and agile solutions needed to meet the expectations of any industry’s critical mission.

BitTrap

BitTrap

BitTrap helps companies worldwide detect attackers and put an early end to breaches, preventing data exfiltration and ransomware altogether.

Binarly

Binarly

Binarly has developed an AI-powered platform to protect devices against emerging firmware threats.

iManage

iManage

iManage's intelligent, cloud-enabled, secure knowledge work platform enables organizations to uncover and activate the knowledge that exists inside their business.

The CyberWire

The CyberWire

The CyberWire gets people up to speed on cyber quickly and keeps them a step ahead in a continually changing industry.

Technation

Technation

Technation proudly represents the Canadian technology companies that are furthering our nation and the world into the future through innovation, creativity and ingenuity.

GlassHouse Technology

GlassHouse Technology

GlassHouse supports customers in their digitalization journey with our deep technical expertise in Managed Cloud and Security Services, SAP Infrastructure Service and Business Continuity Services.

Custocy

Custocy

Custocy is a unique collaborative AI technology that identifies sophisticated and unknown (zero-day) attacks.

Quantum Bridge

Quantum Bridge

Our unbreakable key distribution technology ensures the highest level of protection for your critical infrastructure and sensitive data in an evolving digital landscape.