The Post Office is popular with Americans — it’s “viewed more favorably than any other federal agency surveyed by Gallup,” a survey shows. But it is too slow to deliver bad news, a Democrat lawmaker says.
On September 11, the USPS realized hackers had broken into its system and accessed the personal information of some 800,000 employees. However, it was almost two months before those workers were told their names, Social Security numbers, home addresses, and more had been hacked.
Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA) says it took too long to deliver that information.
“The way this should work is, as soon you know that a file has been compromised and it contains personally identifiable information — Social Security numbers — that employee should be notified,” Lynch, the top Democrat on the postal subcommittee, said. “If we go with your plan, a U.S. government agency could have the Social Security numbers for all its employees compromised and you’ll decide based on your own interests when the employees will be notified.”
Government investigators say they needed the time to determine what data may have been stolen, and to attempt to track back the hackers.
Because of the incursion, the Post Office is giving employees a free year of credit monitoring service.
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