Imagine this: a private company discovers that detailed personal identifying information—including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, passport data, foreign travel histories, and other sensitive personal and private data—for more than 25 million people has been compromised in successive security breaches. How swiftly do you think government officials, regulators, and policy makers would be demanding strong action?
The breaches at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of sensitive personal information, including the many counterintelligence nuggets often found in security background forms, have brought calls for action, followed by the inevitable resignation of the OPM Director. Much more in the way of serious reform is needed. A resignation alone, or a few fixes in one agency, will not counter the ongoing cyber threat posed by the Chinese, Russians, Iranians, cyber criminals, and terrorist organizations. We need a fresh examination of the federal government’s approach to cybersecurity, and we need new ground rules. We cannot continue to be punched in the nose and simply turn the other cheek, shrugging off the theft of classified and proprietary information.
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