Cyber Attack Hits 123,000 Thrift Savings Plan Members; No Data Misused

The US Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) said a cyber attack against one of its third party service providers, Serco Inc., apparently did not result in misuse of data of its Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). The unauthorized access reported by the FBI in April is estimated to have led to personal information exposure for approximately 123,000 TSB participants.

“There is no indication that any of these data have been misused. In addition, there is no evidence that the TSP`s network or its website, www.tsp.gov, were affected” according to the official press release.

TSP beneficiaries who may have been affected by the attack will be notified by post and offered support, including credit monitoring.

An extensive expert analysis of the data provided to Serco and the FRTIB by the FBI indicated that “varying combinations of data of 123,201 individuals were accessed”, with 43,587 distinct names, addresses and SSNs being confirmed as compromised. Some of the illicitly accessed data also consisted of financial details.

The TSP reported a total of approximately 313 billion USD and about 4.5 million participants in April 2012.