OPM Awards $133 Million Contract Providing ID Protection for Hack Victims

The Office of Personnel Management has announced that the government has awarded a contract to provide free identity protection services to the 21.5 million individuals whose personal data were left vulnerable as a result of the recent cybersecurity breach that hit the agency’s computer systems.

The federal government will be spending $133,263,550 on a contract to provide identity theft protection services to the 21.5 million individuals whose personal data were left vulnerable in the second of two major cybersecurity breaches that hit the Office of Personnel Management’s computer systems earlier this year.

OPM and the Department of Defense announced the contract today. The identity protection services will be provided by Identity Theft Guard Solutions LLC, doing business as ID Experts, and will be provided at no cost to the impacted individuals.

ID Experts will provide all impacted individuals and their dependent minor children (under the age of 18 as of July 1, 2015) with credit monitoring, identity monitoring, identity theft insurance, and identity restoration services for a period of three years.

“We remain fully committed to assisting the victims of these serious cybercrimes and to taking every step possible to prevent the theft of sensitive data in the future,” said Beth Cobert, Acting Director of the Office of Personnel Management. “Millions of individuals, through no fault of their own, had their personal information stolen and we’re committed to standing by them, supporting them, and protecting them against further victimization. And as someone whose own information was stolen, I completely understand the concern and frustration people are feeling.”

OPM acknowledged that the impacted individuals have not yet been notified but that the government will begin doing so later this month and will continue over the next several weeks. Notifications will be made through the Department of Defense and will be sent directly to impacted individuals.

For more information, or to sign up for email alerts, please visit https://www.opm.gov/cybersecurity.

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Ian Smith is one of the co-founders of FedSmith.com. He has over 20 years of combined experience in media and government services, having worked at two government contracting firms and an online news and web development company prior to his current role at FedSmith.