Jun
05

Have you been hacked?

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management recently became aware of a cybersecurity incident affecting its systems and data that may have exposed the personal information of current and former Federal employees. Current and former Smithsonian employee data has potentially been compromised.

OPM has partnered with the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to determine the impact of the breach. As a result of this investigation, OPM is notifying approximately 4 million individuals whose Personally Identifiable Information may have been compromised. The notifications will be sent to these individuals beginning June 8 and continuing through June 19 by email and U.S. mail.

In order to mitigate the risk of fraud and identity theft, OPM will offer affected individuals credit monitoring services and identity theft insurance through CSID, a company that specializes in identity theft protection and fraud resolution. This comprehensive, 18-month membership includes credit report access, credit monitoring, identity theft insurance and recovery services and is available immediately at no cost to affected individuals identified by OPM. Employees whose information was affected will receive a notification directly from CSID. If you have any questions about the impact of this incident to your data or if you receive a notice and have questions about the services being offered, contact CSID directly beginning at 8 a.m. CST on June 8. The company’s website is www.csid.com/opm, and its toll free number is (844) 222-2743 (International callers: Call collect (512) 327-0700).

OPM took immediate action following the incident to implement additional security measures in order to protect the sensitive personnel data it manages.The Smithsonian will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates as appropriate.

If you have questions, please contact Danèe Gaines Adams, Smithsonian Privacy Officer, at (202) 633-5129 or via email at GainesAdamsd@si.edu.

Read more about on protecting yourself from identify theft and fraud from the Washington Post >>

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Posted: 5 June 2015
About the Author:

Alex di Giovanni is primarily responsible for "other duties as assigned" in the Office of Communications and External Affairs. She has been with the Smithsonian since 2006 and plans to be interred in the Smithson crypt.