The One Person Who’s Not Losing Sleep Over Potential ID Theft
Former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower Edward Snowden spoke about surveillance and civil liberties at the Oct. 13 Computers, Freedom & Privacy Conference 2015 in Alexandria, Virginia. Camille Tuutti
A famous whistleblower on the lam might be the last person a cybercriminal wants to impersonate.
Of all the tens of millions of victims of the gargantuan Office of Personnel employee records hack, there’s at least one person who’s not particularly worried about identify theft.
Edward Snowden.
In an Oct. 13 breakfast keynote with Mike German, former FBI special agent turned whistleblower, Snowden was replying to a question whether he was getting free identity theft protection services, considering his status as a former federal contractor.
“Did they send you your notice?” German asked jokingly, referring to the notifications sent to 21.5 million hack victims, offering three years’ credit and identity protection services.
“The OPM did not directly inform me about identity protection,” Snowden said. “On the other hand, God save the person who tries to steal mine!”
The famous National Security Agency contractor spoke via videoconferencing at the Oct. 13 Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference 2015 held in Alexandria, Virginia. The topic of his discussion centered on surveillance and civil liberties.
Snowden, of course, is famous for leaking information that revealed to the public the existence of a widespread U.S. surveillance apparatus domestically and internationally. Once an NSA contractor based in Hawaii, Snowden today lives under asylum in Moscow (supposedly) -- and stays in touch with the global community via social media.