Office of Personnel Management

16 Stories

Dems: DOGE Security Failures Could 'Break Our Government'

Federal workers sue over OPM's use of unencrypted email

(Newser) - Federal employees are attempting to block Elon Musk's DOGE associates from operating what they say is an illegal server at the Office of Personnel Management. Janes Does 1 and 2 allege the server, connected to a government network to harvest information on federal employees, violates federal law and could...

With Deadline Near, 20K Have Taken Trump Buyout Offer

Feds warn that layoffs are likely after Thursday deadline passes

(Newser) - With the Thursday deadline rapidly approaching, only around 20,000 federal employees have accepted the Trump administration's buyout offer, Axios reports, citing a senior administration official. That works out to a little under 1% of the federal workforce, far below the administration's target of cutting the workforce by...

Not Getting Paid in the Shutdown? Start Painting, Agency Suggests

Office of Personnel Management recommends offering to do chores for rent reduction

(Newser) - Stuck home on furlough or working without pay due to the government shutdown? Instead of stressing about your temporarily lost income, ask your landlord if you can do some painting or other handyman tasks to slash your rent. That's just one piece of advice the Office of Personnel Management...

2 Months After 'Staggering' Hack, 21.5M in the Dark

It could be weeks before those affected are notified

(Newser) - If the Office of Personnel Management performed a background check on you at some point during or since 2000, your personal information was probably compromised in the hack that was discovered in May and revealed last week . But some two months since its uncovering, none of the 21.5 million...

Director of Hacked US Agency Resigns

Katherine Archuleta is out at OPM

(Newser) - Katherine Archuleta insisted as recently as yesterday afternoon that she wasn't going to resign as director of the Office of Personnel Management, but today she gave in for more than 22 million good reasons. That's how many people, at least, have been affected by the massive breaches of...

Government Hack Now at 'Staggering' 22M People

Numbers from OPM breaches keep growing

(Newser) - It's the government hack that keeps growing: Authorities now estimate that hackers got personal information on more than 22 million people in two separate breaches of the Office of Personnel Management, reports Politico . Both hacks occurred last year, with the biggest of the two affecting 21.5 million people—...

Hack on Feds May Be 4 Times Bigger Than We Thought

18M Americans may have had personal data stolen, sources say

(Newser) - The hack on the personal data of a 4.2 million current and past federal employees just increased fourfold. Although the Office of Personnel Management is so far keeping to the original figure, briefed US officials say that 18 million people were actually affected, and that number is expected to...

Fed Hack Was 'Cyber Pearl Harbor,' and We're Yawning

Jonah Goldberg: Imagine if this were a physical theft by Chinese spies

(Newser) - The massive hack of millions of federal workers' data has resulted in the phrase "cyber Pearl Harbor" being thrown around, writes Jonah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times . And yet, the government is downplaying the story and the American public doesn't seem all that phased by it, despite...

Hackers May Have Hit Every Federal Employee

Union says they got Social Security numbers, other information

(Newser) - We knew the recent federal hack was big , but a federal employees' union says it was much bigger than has been disclosed. In fact, it alleges that the hackers got sensitive information on every single federal employee and retiree, along with 1 million former federal workers, reports AP . The news...

Motive for Historic Hack: Blackmail?

Beijing may now have lists of US officials' contacts

(Newser) - Hackers made off with information on around 4 million past and present federal employees in what could be the biggest-ever breach of government data —but experts suspect they may only be interested in their Chinese contacts. The Office of Personnel Management data breach involved security clearances and background checks...

Data Stolen in Latest Hack Goes Back 30 Years

Reuters says it includes background checks from 1985

(Newser) - Some of the personnel data stolen in the massive new federal hack predates the widespread use of computers—and hackers themselves. Reuters reports that the breach at the Office of Personnel Management involves security clearances and background checks dating back to 1985. That would explain that while 4 million people...

New Hack May Be Biggest US Government Breach Ever

China suspected as records of 4M workers are compromised

(Newser) - In what might be the biggest breach of government data in history, the Department of Homeland Security says hackers busted into the computers of the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department, reports the AP . The New York Times quotes the president of the American Federation of Government Employees...

Chinese Hack Data of Feds With Top-Secret Clearance

'NYT': Office of Personnel Management was hit in March

(Newser) - Hackers gained access to the Office of Personnel Management, which houses the personal data of all federal employees, and an official tells the New York Times that the hit was traced to China—though it's not clear whether Beijing sanctioned it. The March breach appeared to target the files...

Firm That Vetted Snowden Gets New $190M Contract

US Investigations Services has been accused of massive fraud

(Newser) - You might think that giving a green light to Edward Snowden and Aaron Alexis and allegedly fraudulently submitting 660,000 other background checks without actually completing them would prevent you from getting future government contracts. But you'd be wrong, because the Department of Homeland Security has awarded a $190...

Probe Uncovers $30M in Unreported GSA Bonuses

While another finds more 'questionable conferences'

(Newser) - A Washington-area TV station has uncovered $30 million in bonuses paid out in 2011 that the GSA neglected to mention in an earlier Freedom of Information Act request looking into its finances. In the May report, the Office of Personnel Management listed the GSA as paying a hair more than...

Uncle Sam Pays Dead People $120M a Year

Report: Office of Personnel Management does a bad job stopping fraud

(Newser) - The government has been paying retirement benefits for a whole lot of dead federal workers, according to a new report from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general. Over the past five years, the amount accidentally paid to the dearly departed has jumped a whopping 70%, with $601 million...

16 Stories