The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Defense Department announced this week that a Portland, OR based vendor has been selected to assist with breach notification and credit assistance for the almost 22 million individuals affected by the OPM data breaches. The cost? $133 million. Although the services that will be provided to the affected individuals include credit and identity monitoring, identity theft insurance, and identity restoration services for three years, it does not appear to include assistance with credit freezes, which according to Brian Krebs (and this writer), is the only real way to protect oneself (Read Krebs’ post here). Think of how far that $133 million would have gone toward enhancing security measures at OPM BEFORE the intrusion. The lesson? Invest in security measures now before you are a victim of an intrusion to save lots of money later.

[View source.]