OPM Director’s Blog: Keeping You Informed on Cybersecurity


opm_director_beth_cobert_2By Beth Cobert – July 24, 2015
It’s been an exciting and busy first two weeks for me as the new Acting Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. I will be regularly using this space to share the latest news about what we are doing to address one of my top priorities for OPM – our response to the recent cybersecurity incidents. As we make progress on this front, I also will be highlighting the achievements of OPM’s dedicated team that is working every day to fulfill the agency’s mission: to recruit and develop a world-class Federal workforce.

First, this week we were able to bring back online the system that we use to process background investigation forms for Federal employees and Federal job applicants. We had shut down the e-QIP system temporarily on June 26 after we discovered a vulnerability during a comprehensive security review of OPM’s information technology systems. Even though we didn’t find any malicious activity, we took this step in order to be proactive and to fortify the system’s security controls.

Cybersecurity expertise from across the Federal and private sectors was brought to bear to remediate and test the e-QIP system. Thanks to the hard work of OPM staff, in collaboration with our interagency partners at the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of Management and Budget, we were able to bring the system back online with enhanced security features in less than four weeks.

Second, we continue to build on our efforts to support members of the Federal family whose personal information was stolen in the cyberintrusions. We have just added some helpful features to our online resource center at opm.gov/cybersecurity in response to feedback from users.

The website is now easier to navigate and specific information is easier to find. We’ve added a “Recent Updates” section and a “Stay Informed” feature, plus tools such as an RSS feed allowing users to get automatic alerts when new information is posted. Our agency partners and outside organizations can now place a digital badge on their own websites that will link their users to OPM’s online resource center. Please visit this website to get the most current information about the incidents and about steps individuals can take to protect themselves from cybercrime.

Being new to OPM, I recently took the agency’s IT Security and Privacy Awareness Training. The training was a good reminder that using cybersecurity best practices is a responsibility we all share and that we must remain on guard against phishing emails and other threats that are ever present in today’s digital workplace.

Even as we keep cybersecurity front and center, I am looking forward to working with our talented and hard-working team at OPM to fulfill the agency’s mission of supporting and providing exceptional service to our Federal family. We have multiple plans and programs underway to improve the hiring process for Federal jobs, to develop top-drawer training and leadership programming, and to collect and process rich data sets that lead to greater employee engagement, to name just a few. The Federal Government is counting on OPM to deliver. And I know that we will.

Source: Keeping You Informed on Cybersecurity – The OPM Director’s Blog

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