OPM Data Breach - Whitehouse Petition - Help Wanted

Harry Hoffman hhoffman at ip-solutions.net
Thu Jun 18 01:19:37 UTC 2015


I think it would be great if you were to include some source links in
your petition/email so that folks unaware of the specifics can educate
themselves in a non-partisan and factual manner.

Just my $0.02.

Cheers,
Harry


On 6/17/15 8:54 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
> My apologies in advance to any here who might feel that this is off
> topic... I don't personally believe that it is.  Frankly, I don't
> know of that many mailing lists where the subscribers are likely to
> care as much about network security (and/or the lack thereof) as the
> membership of this list does.
>
> By now, most of you will have read about the massive federal data breach
> at the U.S. Government's Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and also
> the fact that (by OPM's own preliminary estimates) this massive data breach
> affects at least four million federal government employees... but perhaps
> as many as 14 million current and former employees.  However as this
> story is still evolving, even as we speak, you may perhaps not be familiar
> with the following additional important facts that have just come out:
>
>     *)  In addition to ordinary government personel records, including
> 	the usual kinds of frequently-hacked personal information (e.g.
> 	social security numbers), an as-yet undetermined number of highly
> 	detailed 127-page government security clearance forms (SF86)
> 	containing vast and intimate details of virtually every aspect
> 	of the lives of essentially EVERYONE who has applied for or been
> 	granted a government security clearance at any time within THE
> 	PAST 30 YEARS have also been hacked/leaked.
>
> 	(Experts seem to agree that this security clearance data constitutes
> 	and absolute gold mine and treasure trove of information for foreign
> 	intelligence services, opening up vast possibilities for phishing,
> 	blackmail, and on and on.)
>
>     *)	The Director of the Office of Personnel Management, Ms. Katherine
> 	Archueta was warned, repeatedly, and over several years, by her
> 	own department's Inspector General (IG) that many of OPM's systems
> 	were insecure and should be taken out of service.  Nontheless, as
> 	reveled during congressional testimony yesterday, she overruled
> 	and ignored this advice and kept the systems online.
>
> Given the above facts, I've just started a new Whitehouse Petition, asking
> that the director of OPM, Ms. Archueta, be fired for gross incompetence.
> I _do_ understand that the likelihood of anyone ever getting fired for
> incompetence anywhere within the Washington D.C. Beltway is very much of
> a long shot, based on history, but I nontheless feel that as a U.S.
> citizen and taxpayer, I at least want to make my opinion of this matter
> known to The Powers That Be.
>
> I *really* would like some help from members of this list on this endeavor.
> In particular, if you agree, I'd appreciate it if you would sign my petition,
> and, whether you agree or not, I sure would appreciate it if you would all
> share the following URL widely:
>
> https://petitions.whitehouse.gov//petition/immediately-fire-office-personnel-managements-director-katherine-archueta-gross-incompetence
>
> Note that Whitehouse petitions do not even get properly or completely
> published on the Whitehouse web site until such time as they receive at
> least 150 signatures.  I am hoping that members of this (NANOG) mailing
> list will help me to get past that threshold.
>
> Thanks for your attention.
>
>
> Regards,
> rfg




More information about the NANOG mailing list