Q: The OPM office sent out an email to those millions of federal employees who may have been affected by cybersecurity incident involving the OPM database. The email consists of a link to www.csid.com/OPM/ for employees to enroll in Protector Plus, a company that specializes in identity theft protection and fraud resolution. However, this site is blocked and not accessible through our government computers because of the category of the site. 

I had to call our Hill AFB Help Desk and after having to wait nearly 20 minutes on queue, I was told that they can’t unblock it. The request had to be forwarded to AFNET for review and approval. I’m not sure how long this process will take. Meanwhile, valuable time is being wasted when this maybe could have been precoordinated with our IT folks so those of us affected would not have to experience this roadblock in our effort to implement this service. Can this be expedited?

A: Access to the OPM site is now available through government computers. This was not an issue unique to Hill and, in an effort to notify affected personnel promptly, OPM sent email notifications faster than DoD service components could respond. The Air Force, along with the other DoD components, expedited service requests and have since opened access to the site. However, due to the volume of traffic, response times may be slower than expected. We encourage personnel to utilize the site during off-peak times, such as early morning or late evening.