Senators introduce bill to give OPM breach victims lifetime identity protection

Published Aug 3, 03:00 PM UTC

Senators Mark Warner and Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced the RECOVER PII Act to provide lifetime identity protection to 22.1 million federal employees and contractors affected by the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breaches linked to China. The current 10-year coverage, mandated by a 2017 law, is expiring for many victims, with the program set to end September 30. The stolen data includes Social Security numbers and security clearance records, which adversaries can combine with other breaches over time to target personnel. The bill would replace the 10-year limit with lifelong coverage and $5 million identity-theft insurance, and allow agencies to reimburse privacy tools for all federal workers. Similar past bills failed to become law.