U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) sent a letter Wednesday seeking more answers on the Office of Personnel Management’s (OPM) data breach earlier this year.
Ernst urged OPM Acting Director Beth Cobert to notify and provide protections to Iowans impacted by a recent cybersecurity breach affecting background investigation records.
“Although OPM has notified those individuals impacted by a separate but related cybersecurity incident – discovered in April 2015 – affecting the personnel data of 4.2 million current and former federal government employees and offered them free identity theft monitoring and restoration services, OPM has yet to notify those individuals impacted by the incident affecting background investigation records,” Ernst said. “This issue has been brought to my attention by a number of my constituents in Iowa who are concerned they may have been affected by this breach and shared their concerns about the lack of communication and support offered by OPM.”
Ernst was critical of the slow response by the OPM.
“It is vital that the victims of this data breach in Iowa be notified as quickly as possible that their personal information has been compromised, and that there are protections available to them,” Ernst said. “It is concerning that so much time passed – almost three months – between the discovery of the breach and the awarding of a contract to assist in the notification and identity protection process.”