The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee will examine the recent U.S. Postal Service (USPS) data breach during a hearing next Wednesday.
The hearing was expected, as the committee’s top members have all pressed USPS for more information since the agency revealed on Monday a cyber attack that had exposed the information of 800,000 employees.
Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said the Postal Service knew about the hack in September, but waited until late October to confidentially brief the committee.
USPS only told employees this week their personal information was at risk.
Read more: House hearing will probe Postal Service breach | TheHill.
As PostalReporter reported on Monday:
The APWU is fully committed to defending the privacy rights of all our members. We have already filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board protesting the Postal Service’s failure to bargain over the impact of the security breach. We are demanding information from the USPS about the extent of the breach – both known and suspected – and what postal management knew, when they knew it, and what they did, or failed to do to protect employee information. APWU files Labor charges against USPS over lack of info on security breach
“Furthermore, the Committee understands the Postal Service has known about this attack since September and presented this information to Congress several weeks ago, but did so as a classified matter. The Committee will also be seeking information about why the Administration waited two months before making the news of this attack public and preventing victims from taking proactive measures to secure their own information. We have not been told why the agency no longer considers the information classified.” Congressmen want answers on why USPS waited two months to tell victims of data breach
In his letter today, Elijah Cummings requested information about the scope of the cyber-attack, including the types of data breached, the number of employees and customers potentially affected, findings about vulnerabilities to computer systems, and data protection improvement measures taken since discovering the breach.Another Congressman requests more info from USPS on cyber attack
- Video: Postmaster General’s message to employees regarding the cyber incident
- For employees:USPS Q & A on cyber intrusion and employee data compromise November 10, 2014
- For customers: USPS Q & A on cyber intrusion,employee data compromise, if customers are affected data November 10, 2014
- USPS Statement on Cyber Intrusion Incident November 10, 2014
How do these guy’s FEEL? MANAGEMENT does what it wants.
Almost a year this went on?!?!? What the fuck is wrong with management, anyway? That is, besides incompetence, stupidity, criminal behavior and laziness? Or did I miss something? And how will Issa reprimand his puppet Donahoe? Surely not by starting steps to remove the jerk, because Issa needs him to continue destroying the USPS from within. So it’s a bit of a contradiction that the Congressworm who wants to kill the Service, unions and turn the USPS into Wal-Mail is interested in this hacking incident? Since when do you care, Issa?
The APWU is on it, but no word from the NALC, who are acting more and more like timid mice every day. We used to be the balls of the unions, and now we’re the weaklings. Every day that goes by without the NALC getting mean about this just makes them look even weaker.
Every single employee should have the right to sue the USPS, and the Service should be required to make restitutions to all employees, including cash payments for the time our records were exposed, and full payment for any losses from credit card or identity theft at the hands of what is probably the country’s most incompetent management team today.
Any one else think this data breach is a smoke screen designed to keep Congress busy and take their eyes off the service standard changes? Surely, the timing of the announcement is curious, right before Congress comes back in session.