As you probably know by now, the Federal Office of Personnel Management was hacked a few months ago, and more than 14 million personal identities of Federal employers and contractors, or even those in the hiring/contracting clearance process, were likely compromised.
“As a result of the incident, OPM will send notifications to approximately 4 million individuals whose PII may have been compromised. Since the investigation is on-going, additional PII exposures may come to light; in that case, OPM will conduct additional notifications as necessary. In order to mitigate the risk of fraud and identity theft, OPM is offering credit report access, credit monitoring and identify theft insurance and recovery services to potentially affected individuals through CSID®, a company that specializes in these services. This comprehensive, 18-month membership includes credit monitoring and $1 million in identity theft protection services at no cost to enrollees.”, states the OPM website.
To put it bluntly, you and your business are very likely already hacked and your identities stolen, and you either know it, or you don’t know it. If not, well, it’s coming soon to a store near you.
OPM’s offer of data breach, identity monitoring, protection and identity theft insurance is a good start – but as their website goes on to explain, there’s lots more to do (as individuals). Large businesses and agencies should take a look at Equifax fraud protection and identity verification management services – the industry leader – particularly to control risks associated with fraudsters attempting to use the compromised identities to access commercial or government services. We won’t dig deep into these offerings here, but if you have a small/mid-sized business that operates online, give us a call to discuss additional small business digital web cybersecurity tactics you’ll likely require for your hosted website and digital engagement.
If you do not have information or access regarding OPM’s identity protection offer, take a look also at Lifelock – another industry leader (that actually leverages some CSID technologies under the covers), and that offers additional identity monitoring and protection options for your whole family.