The personal information of more than 123,000 participants in a retirement savings program for federal employees was accessed in a sophisticated cyberattack that happened last July, the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board announced on Friday.
The attack was targeted at a computer belonging to Serco, a firm that provides services to the Thrift Savings Plan. The FBI informed Serco and the FRTIB of the hacking incident in April.
The names, addresses and Social Security numbers of around 43,000 people were accessed, according to the Thrift Savings Plan website. The Social Security numbers and other information belonging to about 80,000 other people — but not their names — were also accessed.
On its website, the Thrift Savings Program said it “does not have any evidence that any personal information has been used or is being misused or disclosed to other persons.”
“We sincerely regret that this event occurred,” said Greg Long, executive director of the FRTIB in a statement, “and we will provide assistance and support to the affected individuals through a call center and credit monitoring. We are working with Serco and other security experts to ensure that TSP data is protected and secure. We are proud of our service to our participants and beneficiaries and want to continue to earn their trust.”
The FRTIB said it took immediate steps with Serco to address the attack. They immediately shut down the compromised computer and formed a response team to carry out a systemwide review of all computer security procedures.
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