WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers who stole security clearance data on millions of Defense Department and other U.S. government employees got away with about 5.6 million fingerprint records, some 4.5 million more than initially reported, the government said on Wednesday.
Protection Against Internal Threats Series Does Securing IT Systems Protect Your Most Valuable Commodity? Not enough coverage is available on the Internet through insightful articles, blogs and discussions concerning the serious liabilities of internal or insider business threats. This series of articles will educate and heighten your individual level of consciousness by focusing on the least observed security Achilles heel for any business. Practical case scenarios with proven solutions are provided. Following the Protection Against Internal Threat Series by C U Clear positions companies and organizations to proactively protect assets and information from internal vulnerabilities. Our goal is to help you minimize situations that can harm company reputation, client / customer relationships and head off potential incidents of workplace violence. Most companies and organizations invest large amounts of capital in the physical protection of information technology assets. This technology investment comes with consultants that maintain hardware and program software safeguards. Company executives mistakenly develop a false sense of security thinking this approach protects their most valuable commodity; employees, customers or clients. Protecting information is important. In today’s fast paced cyber world, the acquisition of the latest information technology systems capable of withstanding and recovering from external (and I would add internal) cyber threats is a ‘soup du jour’. Others spend capital on erecting complex, elaborate and technically enhanced physical security systems. How do organizations fulfill an even more critical, often overlooked, task of protecting employees and customers? Smart CEO’s and savvy senior executives can enhance security in several areas: Enforcing a strict policy on vetting new employees, as well as periodic background reviews of current employees. Conducting comprehensive background checks, to include any documented criminal activities, arrest records, warrants, financial stability assessments (credit), driving records, education and employment verifications. Developing or [...]
Lawmakers are debating whether to strip the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its control over security clearances after hackers made off with nearly 20 million background check forms housed at the agency.
The Office of Personnel Management has decided to take a step back in an attempt to move forward after hackers breached files containing sensitive data on millions of current and former federal employees, but some stakeholders are not fully on board with the plan.
Persons applying for a job with the federal government or current feds requiring an upgraded security clearance will have to do things the old fashioned way for a few weeks.
The abrupt shutdown of the nation’s beleaguered security clearance system will further hamper a program that has been beset by all sorts of problems over the past few years, creating a significant backlog and potentially even disrupting key government operations, industry officials say.
Stop hiring friends, relatives, referrals, or former industry colleagues simply because of your known association. You love your family and you have those friends within your circle that you trust just as much who you believe can help succeed. The dispassionate question to ask yourself is “does the person I’m consider hiring for my vacant position have anything in their background that could potentially bring discredit to your organization and its success? That is a Yes or No question. There is no wiggle room for personal relationships when it comes to making decisions that impact your business, its public name, brand, and reputation resulting from the legal implications associated with hiring an immoral person with a highly questionable criminal history or troubled past. A common thread that we find happening far too often are company’s; especially federal contractors, hiring people just because they actively hold and maintain a federal “security clearance” and not exercising their due diligence by conducting a thorough comprehensive background check commensurate to the position level of the person being hired . C U CLEAR continues to raise the level of awareness of this very FATAL assumption and mistake. Note that depending on the level of clearance there are gaps within the period of their last investigation to the current time of the new position that can be detrimental to your business. Our workshops and consultant provided by C U CLEAR can take the guesswork out of this common overlooked issue and assumption that is becoming far too familiar among today’s federal government and contractors industry. We see a repeatable occurrence among all other businesses and organizations across America which people are being hired without properly vetting them or exercising “due diligence” [...]
After finding that federal employees' Social Security numbers were stolen, the US government discovers another breach, which exposed data on intelligence agents and others.
A rush to recruit additional Secret Service officers in the wake of numerous White House security lapses has led to a new problem: Several dozen of the fresh arrivals have been posted in sensitive positions without completing the required national security clearance process, according to two government officials familiar with the situation.
