Sen. Susan Collins’ personal information was hacked in the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach that affected as many as 4 million federal employees earlier this year.
On Wednesday, the Maine Republican who's a key member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released a letter via Twitter from the Chief Information Officer at OPM. The letter informed her that her sensitive information was compromised in the cyber-attack, which was the
second one this year, according to NBC News.
“You are receiving this notification because we have determined that the data compromised in this incident may have included your personal information, such as your name, Social Security number, date and place of birth, and current or former address,”
the letter began, according to The Daily Caller.
The letter then assures Collins that OPM is “not aware of any misuse of your information,” however, they also offered her free credit monitoring through a theft insurance company.
“All potentially affected individuals will receive a complimentary subscription to CSID Protector Plus for 18 months,” the letter that millions of other government employees opened recently reads.
Jackie Simon, policy director for the American Federation of Government Employees, one of the country’s largest labor unions, said that the free theft insurance for 18 months is not enough.
“What if something happens 24 months from now? You know, the government has some liability for this loss, and we're going to try to make sure that it
meets all of its obligations,” she told NPR.
The majority of Congress was not affected by the attack, congressional aides told NBC News. However, numerous other congressional staff for both the House and the Senate received the letter.
"The impact of the recent breach of [OPM's] information systems is wider than first announced,” said chief administrative officer Ed Cassidy in an email to House staff members, according to NBC News.
Representative Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, was quick to blame OPM for not taking the proper security measures during a Tuesday congressional hearing concerning the data breach. Katherine Archuleta, OPM director, disagreed, asserting that the breach was an outcome of a problem larger than OPM.
"In an average month, OPM, for example, thwarts 10 million confirmed intrusion attempts targeting our network. These attacks will not stop — if anything, they will increase," she said, according to NBC.