WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Personnel Management on Thursday promised to strengthen the agency’s cybersecurity and information technology systems after what’s believed to be the largest data breach in U.S. history.
Senators grilled Beth Cobert at her confirmation hearing about the hack. She was nominated to succeed Katherine Archuleta, who resigned in July after hackers stole the Social Security numbers, health histories and other highly sensitive data belonging to more than 20 million people.
Cobert is the agency’s acting director.
“Clearly existing protections are not sufficient and major changes are necessary, not just at the OPM but across the federal government,” said Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee.
Johnson and other senators said federal employees who dedicate their careers to public service should be confident that the government will protect their most sensitive data.
In her testimony, she said the agency has put several new safeguards in place since she became acting director.
“We need to change the way we act in the face of this threat,” she said.
