The National Treasury Employees Union is not satisfied that the government is providing enough protection for potential victims of identity theft after breaches of federal systems.
Following the Office of Personnel Management’s revelation that the fingerprints of 5.6 million federal employees were stolen in this summer’s hack attacks, NTEU released a statement reiterating its support for Sen. Ben Cardin’s, D.-Md., RECOVER Act, which provides government employees lifetime identity protection coverage.
The RECOVER Act was introduced on July 9, in the wake of the of the OPM hack, and has been assigned to the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee.
NTEU also has lawsuit that seeks protections for federal employees that it is continuing to pursue.
Initial reports had said the fingerprint records of 1.1 million employees were compromised in June’s cyber breach, but OPM reported on Sept. 23 that a DoD investigation had increased the number affected to 5.6 million.
“This is further evidence that OPM’s proposal to offer credit monitoring and identity theft protections for up to three years is totally inadequate,” NTEU president Tony Reardon said, in a statement. “In light of today’s news, I once again urge the administration to provide lifetime coverage.”
OPM acting director Beth Cobert announced on Sept. 1 that it would provide three years of identity protection to the 21.5 million employees and their dependents.
