Have you heard that OPM is sending written notice if your information got hacked by the Chinese?

Maj Mike Sciales - Just got off the phone with OPM and they did validate the fact that myIDcare is legitimate. Just seemed very strange until they explained the reason why this company was not given the important information needed. Thanks for the quick response.

CSM Brian Vanwagner - Thanks for validating this. It sucks getting hacked, and I know some people don't think this credit monitoring is adequate, but this is the first time the government ever responded in a timely manner with a useful offer of assistance under the circumstances. Or like some of my favorite young troops used to say "guess this beats a swift kick in the ass."

I have searched on line regarding this action. In the letter it says it says that OPM and ID experts wouldn't ask for personal info. They advise in the letter: "If you are contacted by anyone asking for your personal info in relation to this incident, do not provide it" And that is what they do after you enter the PIN???!!! And it was not mentioned in the letter, that they will ask that. After I read the letter, I thought, oh, that's cool, I just give them that PIN and they will know who I am. I was in a shock they are acting exactly like a phishing scam.
Like the most people, it makes me extremely uncomfortable that after the data breach they ask me to enter on line my SSN, address, DOB.
Even if myIDcare is legit, doesn't OPM already have all our info? Why would we need to expose our info once again? If Chinese were able to hack government info, why wouldn't they hack myIDcare? Either way it is all gamble.
Here is what some other reviewers are saying:
1. I find it interesting that to combat the data breach, we are being advised to access yet another website and to release yet more personal information to a new website. Ironic, eh?
2. I got a letter also to enter PIN number. I figured if I entered pin it would display my personal info and it didn't. I had to renter my info. How stupid is that. Red flag or typical way government works! Scary! No thanks
3. I'm just glad their pages are secure -- or are they? What happened to the padlock on the PII page? Unsecure data on a secure page? Typing the information into the fields is unsecure until submitted, so why is this not hidden? I tried to call the helpdesk -- was on hold for an hour before I hung up, but I am sure they would have "assured" me it is secure. This company is making hundreds of millions from the US govt -- Podunk company to super-rich player. The DoD has terminated the program until CSID fixes it -- guess it took someone with more smarts to make them at least APPEAR to be secure, than just telling people they are.
4. My son actually entered his information, SS, email and when he hit submit it directed him to a phone number because they couldn't "process" his request without verifying his identity. Wanted his email password. I got on the phone and tried to verify them, couldn't and hung up. But he's entered his information! Now what?
5. I too received this letter in the mail last night. I was not cool with entering my SSN so I called the number on the letter, I got some "tool" who didn't know how to answer my questions and was not actually from the government. He transferred me to another "specialist" who assured me that they are a contractor of the government and they will have access to all of my information in order to "protect" me. This includes a 1 Million dollar insurance claim if my identity ever gets compromised. It still sounded fishy to me and I let him know this and hung up.
6. I am really confused. Is this letter the real thing? I just don't want to enter my SSN, OR ANY OTHER INFO. Am I too skeptical???

Thanks for all the info.

Odds are good for you. I look at this as 3 free years of credit monitoring, a $300 value.

Maj Mike Sciales
True, but since Experian also recently got hacked I wonder how that credit monitoring will work out?

Yes, this is new. The scope of the breach was several million more than first reported. OPM was working pretty hard to come up with a fix because Congress has been all over them. They put out bids to contractors to monitor your credit. I just signed up and checked the dashboard. It's the real deal and a good deal. Believe me, I was suspicious, that's why I checked.

Maj Mike Sciales - Rgr sir... just checking, as that is a lot of information to put out there about yourself to non gov contractors... I think I'm gonna hold with the CSID/OPM unless it's indicated otherwise. Thanks for the heads up and info! :)

Just so you know, I looked at the info they provided on me -- credit reports and the like, plus the validation process tells me they already have the meta-data, I'm just setting up for an alert if somebody hacks and I like the fact that it's an intelligent solution to a concern. But people absolutely have to be comfortable with it, so nothing wrong with standing fast.