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BEACONTHE OPM data hack may cause extra alarm for troops
Volume 80, Number 23 by Hope Hodge Seck
Marine Corps Times staff writer
452 AMW Public Affairs
14560 2nd Street, Bldg. 2640 The largest data hack in government But Andrew Borene, a cybersecurity you mouse over a link to a URL and it
March ARB, CA 92518-1852 history could leave some troops at risk expert with the Truman National Security shows you the address and the address
DPZSDZRUNÀRZ#XVDIPLO of having their personal information ex- Project and a former Marine intelligence doesn’t match, that would be something
ploited or exposed. officer, said it was unlikely the data could not to open.”
fax: 951-655-7070 be used for effective blackmail.
phone: 951-655-4138 Current and former federal employ- Borene and Rosenzweig agreed the
ees began receiving troubling emails “The [forms have] a lot of data, but incident should push federal officials to
COMMANDER from the executive Office of Person- it lines up with public records anyway,” improve security practices and to take the
Col. Russell Muncy nel Management on Monday, notifying he said, adding that the questionnaires prospect of cyber attacks more seriously.
them that their personal information was aren’t used to list prior indiscretions or
PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICER compromised in a massive data breach embarrassments that might otherwise “There is no question that the federal
Capt. Perry Covington made public earlier this month. Up to 4 be hidden. government as a whole, including Con-
million people may have been affected gress, really needs to wake up to the im-
EDITOR by the breach, which federal officials A more threatening prospect, he said, mediacy of cyber threats,” Borene said.
Ms. Linda Welz said they believe is linked to a Chinese was the potential that stolen informa-
cyber attack. tion could be used to perpetrate fraud He recommended that Congress move
452 AMW EDITORIAL STAFF against service members. to authorize executive agencies to bet-
Master Sgt. Megan Crusher Media outlets reported that FBI and ter collaborate with the private sector in
Staff Sgt. Tiffany Lindemann Secret Service officials, and even cabi- Marine Corps Staff Director Maj. order to safeguard information into the
net secretaries, may have been victims Gen. James Laster warned troops to be future. The net result of the data breach
Senior Airman Russell McMillan of the breach. It’s not clear, though, how alert following the data breach in a June could be positive, he said, if it were tak-
Senior Airman Joseph Dangidang many active-duty or former troops may 5 announcement that focused on fraud en seriously.
Senior Airman Kevin Mitterholzer be among those affected. and identity theft risks. He encour-
aged affected Marines to take advan- “It might do good things for op-
The Beacon is published by Samuel Shumach, an OPM spokes- tage of free credit monitoring services erational security across the Pentagon
Aerotech News and Review. Aero- man, did not say how many service and identity theft insurance provided by if large numbers of clearance holders
WHFKLVDSULYDWH¿UPLQQRZD\FRQ- members were estimated to be among OPM, and to brush up on existing Corps became concerned,” Borene said. “It
nected with the U.S. Air Force, un- the victims, but clarified that the vul- policies regarding online safety habits might help to raise individual aware-
der exclusive written contract with nerable are a very specific population. and information sharing. ness about responsibility.”
the 452nd Air Mobility Wing. This
civilian enterprise Air Force news- “No active-duty service member or “Our commandant would like for this If there is stolen personal data that
paper is an authorized publication contractor data was exposed in this in- information and mitigation measures to could be used for blackmail, Rosenz-
for employees and members of cident unless an individual has previous be shared with all personnel down to the weig suggested that the military branch-
U.S. military services, retirees and federal civilian service,” he said, adding lowest level possible throughout your es reach out to clearance holders and
family members. Contents are not those affected would be notified between commands and organizations,” he wrote. inform them that they can disclose any
QHFHVVDULO\ WKH RI¿FLDO YLHZV RI June 8 and June 19 on a rolling basis. threats they receive to the government
or endorsed by, the U.S. Govern- Borene said troops should be on the with no negative consequences. Those
ment, the Department of Defense But for troops who fall into this cat- alert for sophisticated “spear phishing” targets would likely include more senior
or the Department of the Air Force. egory — particularly those with security techniques in which hackers use per- troops with more authority and status,
clearances — the dangers of having pi- sonal information to create personalized he said. And if it is a coordinated enemy
The appearance of advertis- rated information exposed may be espe- emails that appear to be from a boss or attack, Rosenzweig said, the impact may
ing in this newspaper, including cially high. someone else the hacking victim knows. be felt for decades.
inserts or supplements, does not
constitute endorsement of the Paul Rosenzweig, founder of the “If anything looks suspicious, check “To me, if it’s the Chinese, it’s going to
products or services by the De- homeland security consulting company with the person you know,” he said. “If play out over the next 30 years,” he said.
partment of Defense, the Depart- Red Branch consulting and a senior
ment of the Air Force or Aerotech adviser to The Chertoff Group, said he
News and Review, Inc. worried that private information in se-
curity clearance questionnaires might be
Everything advertised in this used by a foreign government to black-
newspaper shall be made avail- mail troops and other clearance holders
able for purchase, use or patron- into compromising actions.
age without regard to race, color,
religion, sex, national origin, age, “All your overseas deployments, who
marital status, physical handicap, you know, how you spend your money,
SROLWLFDO DI¿OLDWLRQ RU DQ\ RWKHU prior bad acts, embarrassments ranging
non-merit factor of the purchaser, from affairs to drug use,” said Rosen-
user or patron. zweig, listing information he believed
might come to light through the data
Editorial content is edited, pre- breach. “... I hold a security clearance
pared and provided by the staff myself and I’ve been sitting here think-
of the 452nd Air Mobility Wing ing of a half-dozen things I haven’t told
3XEOLF$IIDLUV RI¿FH DW 0DUFK$LU my wife.”
Reserve Base. All photographs
in the Beacon are Air Force pho- Though all the sensitive information
tos unless otherwise stated. For in the forms was known to the govern-
advertising, contact Aerotech di- ment, there was the risk, he said, that
rectly at 877-247-9288. clearance holders might wish to with-
hold certain facts from spouses or
Aerotech News and Review loved ones.
456 East Ave. K-4, Suite 8
Lancaster, CA 93535
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