The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) breach notifications continue, with many affected clearance holders continuing to ask themselves if their data was among that compromised. Until now, patiently awaiting your snail mail notification was the only option, but OPM’s cybersecurity resource center was updated today to include an online verification center. Impacted individuals who haven’t yet received a mail notification and pin will be able to use the online center.
The creation of the resource center has been in the works for some time, as OPM struggles to keep up with the volume of individuals contacting the agency wondering if their data was compromised.
Individuals who call the resource center will be asked to provide their name address, social security number, and date of birth – meaning this is one call you don’t want to make from the Starbucks line. In addition to phone verification, you may also utilize OPM’s online portal. Expect multiple spoofs of this site soon, so be sure you access the official site from the OPM.gov website.
OPM has been working on the notification center for some time. Delays were prompted by a need to ensure any online system protects the personal information of those seeking to verify their information.
Individuals taking advantage of the online center will still need to check their mail – after submitting their information to the online system, OPM will send notifications via mail to indicate whether or not that person was affected. Those notifications are expected to take 2-4 weeks.
So who is the notification center for? Those who may no longer have a current address in the OPM database and would therefore have not received the initial notification, as well as spouses and family members. It’s also for those shredder happy mail recipients who may have tossed their initial notification and pin in the junk mail pile.
Received your notification and wondering if you should sign up for OPM’s free credit monitoring? Read our earlier coverage here.
