OPM adds senior cyber official following hacks

The agency behind perhaps the largest hack in government history has appointed a new cybersecurity adviser.

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) on Wednesday said that Clifton Triplett would join the agency as a senior cyber and information technology adviser. Triplett comes from the consulting world, where he was a managing partner at tech-focused SteelPointe Partners.

{mosads}Triplett’s hiring is part of the long-term strategy the OPM rolled out in the wake of the hacks at the agency this summer, which exposed over 20 million federal workers’ and applicants’ data.

“Today’s announcement of hiring Clif builds on the growing capacity here at the Office of Personnel Management and underscores our relentless dedication to protecting this agency’s valuable IT systems and information,” said OPM acting Director Beth Cobert. “Clif’s experience in building information technology infrastructure is top-rated, and I am excited to have him on board.”

The OPM is still recovering from the catastrophic hacks that roiled the entire government.

The agency initially announced that 4.2 million current and former federal workers’ personnel files had been pilfered by cyber thieves. But within a week, officials had disclosed a second, more serious breach of the OPM’s data center that houses background investigation files on those seeking security clearances.

The revelation kicked off weeks of speculation as to how large the ultimate breach would grow. Eventually, officials set the final tally at 22.1 million people both in and outside the government.

Just this week, it was reported that only a quarter of these hack victims have been notified.

Meanwhile, the OPM has been working to bolster its own cyber defenses, increasing the use of multi-factor authentication, installing additional firewalls and security tools spreading encryption to more databases.

Triplett will help with these efforts.

“We all have a role to play in securing our systems and protecting our information, and I’m committed to supporting these critical efforts across the federal government” he said.