The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and Department of Defense (DoD) will set up a verification center to allow potential victims of the OPM breach that exposed the personal information of more than 21 million current and former federal workers to check if they were impacted.
The center will be available later this month for people who believe they may have been affected but haven't yet received a notification letter and PIN code the department said on its site.
“Given the sensitivity of the population, given the data that was affected in the breach, we've got a set of procedures that allow people to self identify, but also do it in a way that's secure,” acting OPM Director Beth Cobert said during the Nov. 10 Chief Human Capital Officers Council meeting.
Cobert said OPM still has to send out 21 million letters and that only 5 percent of those affected by the breach had enrolled for the identity theft and credit monitoring services that are being offered. The acting OPM chief, who took over OPM's reins after the beleaguered former Director Katherine Archuleta resigned post-breach, was nominated by President Obama Tuesday to be agency's permanent head. Previously, she worked at McKinsey and Co. and she also serves as deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
