Dive Brief:
- The American Federation of Government Employees has filed a class action lawsuit against the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the wake of a data breach that exposed the personal data of current, former and prospective government employees. The lawsuit names OPM's director, Katherine Archuleta and its chief information officer, Donna Seymour.
- OPM acknowledged June 4 that it had faced a cyberattack that exposed the records of some 18 million current and past employees.
- In 2007, the Office of Inspector General had recommended OPM improve its cybersecurity protocols.
Dive Insight:
The lawsuit was filed because of OPM's alleged refusal to improve its data security policies and protocols despite having been advised to do so by the Office of Inspector General in 2007.
"Although they were forewarned about the potential catastrophe that government employees faced, OPM's data security got worse rather than better," said AFGE National President Jay David Cox in a joint statement with other union officials.
Claims of shortcomings included a decentralized governance structire at OPM, lack of acceptable management policies and a failure to continuously monitor the security controls of all software systems.
