Office of Personnel Management Security Breach Incident of June 2015

OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT SECURITY BREACH
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Abstract
This research revolves around the security breach that happened in the Office of Personnel Management in the U.S Government in June 2016. It has relied on credible sources such as the Report of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms as well as well as the Office of Personnel Management report. The Research highlights on the incident, how it affected the individuals and the government, any overlooked measures that would have prevented the breach and the measures put in place after the breach to strengthen the systems and prevent future incidences. The report says that even after the malicious codes were detected, the OPM did not put basic measures of security control and neither did they deploy security tools to detect and prevent any other potential threats. Besides, the OPM on their part accused the report that it was ignorant of the agency report as at that time. They, however, assured the Americans that it had put the new measure to ensure that such kind of breach or any other breach will not happen in future and that their systems were secure.
Keywords: measures, breach, agency and report
Office of Personnel Management Security Breach
In June 2015, it was discovered that the security clearance of the Office Personnel Management of the Federal Government of United States was breached (Office of Personnel Management, 2015). It was confirmed that highly sensitive information and records were stolen and were in the hands of unintended recipients.

Among the records that were confirmed to have been breached were Social Security Numbers, fingerprints, usernames and passwords of individuals who had either applied or were already in the government systems. This incident affected a total of 215 individuals who had either applied or were closely related to someone who had applied for a background investigation. It was very devastating since there was no way the information would be recovered as it went beyond the direct victims into their relatives, places they work, the schools the attended, the friends they relate with just to mention a few. In other words, it was very personal as it would affect the victims in their all aspects of daily life.
Consequently, it was not clear what were the motives of whoever stole the records and neither was the culprit identified. As a result, the government had to take measures and be on high alert as information like this could be used by criminals in several ways that could have everlasting consequences. Information like this could go beyond identity theft and replicating of credit cards to impersonating the government employees, tricking employees to give vital information because they think they are talking to their fellow colleagues. This can as well used by blackmailers and terrorists as they have all the information they require about an individual. The hackers who were suspected to be Chinese in their espionage were apprehended by the Chinese government, and little is known of the proceedings after the arrest especially since their identity was never revealed and the Chinese government denied that the hackers worked for them (The Washington Post, 2015).
After the discovery of the breach, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reforms reported that the breach was successful as a result of negligence the part of Office of Personnel Management especially since the threats had been detected one year prior to the May Day. The report says that even after the malicious codes were detected, the OPM did not put basic measures of security control and neither did they deploy security tools to detect and prevent any other potential threats. Instead, the OPM collaborated with NSA and FBI to monitor the possible threats and expel the individuals whose work was to monitor and maintain the network (Chaffetz, Meadows, & Hurd, 2016).
Simultaneously, the OPM on their part accused the report that it was ignorant of the agency report as at that time. They, however, assured the Americans that it had put the new measure to ensure that such kind of breach or any other breach will not happen in future and that their systems were secure. Among the improved security measures was to work in partnership with security and Information Technology experts such as Department of Defense (DoD), FBI and other security agents. It has also expanded its security systems monitoring in addition to hiring new cyber security advisors.
In conclusion, the OPM has also announced that it has started implementing two-factor Strong Authentication for all users (Office of Personnel Management, 2015). Lastly, the OPM has ordered a thorough scrutiny on their security systems to detect and address any weak points to prevent any future security threats.
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY Chaffetz, J., Meadows, M., & Hurd, W. (2016). The OPM Data Breach: How the Government Jeopardized Our Natonal Security for More than a Generation.
Office of Personnel Management. (2015, June). Cybersecurity Resource Center. Washington, Washington, United States.
The Washington Post. (2015, December 2). Chinese Government has Arrested Hackers it Says Breached OPM Database.
Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/chinese-government-has-arrested-hackers-suspected-of-breaching-opm-database/2015/12/02/0295b918-990c-11e5-8917-653b65c809eb_story.html