Criminal Justice & the Rule of Law Cybersecurity & Tech

Thrift Savings Plan Cyber Breach

Paul Rosenzweig
Saturday, May 26, 2012, 9:03 AM
The Federal government acknowledged, on Friday, that a contractor operating aspects of the Thrift Savings Plan (the government's in-house pension plan) suffered a significant cyber breach.  As a result of the breach more than 120,000 TSP participants have had their social security numbers stolen.  In some cases those numbers may have been associated with names and addresses, raising the specter of a substantial identity theft issue.  The breach wa

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The Federal government acknowledged, on Friday, that a contractor operating aspects of the Thrift Savings Plan (the government's in-house pension plan) suffered a significant cyber breach.  As a result of the breach more than 120,000 TSP participants have had their social security numbers stolen.  In some cases those numbers may have been associated with names and addresses, raising the specter of a substantial identity theft issue.  The breach was the result of a "sophisticated cyber attack" that occurred last July and was was reported to TSP and the contractor by the FBI.

Paul Rosenzweig is the founder of Red Branch Consulting PLLC, a homeland security consulting company and a Senior Advisor to The Chertoff Group. Mr. Rosenzweig formerly served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy in the Department of Homeland Security. He is a Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University, a Senior Fellow in the Tech, Law & Security program at American University, and a Board Member of the Journal of National Security Law and Policy.

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