Are your benefits secure? Retirement Systems Solutions is dedicated to maximizing and caring for our customers' federal employee benefits such as FEBA products. Our specialists offer insights to federal employees that will help you get the most out of your federal employee benefits package or federal buyout package while also protecting your entitlements. The goal is to ensure lifelong security to the employee and their family. 

First, What Are Cyberattacks?

We have seen a lot of cyberattacks in the news lately. Giant corporations, such as Target and Google, have been under attack by sophisticated computer hackers. These hackers get into the companies' records and even their financial systems. They can steal money, hold information for ransom, and even destroy data.  

Cyberattacks present a nightmare for companies and can also cause enormous problems for their customers and employees. When computer systems get hacked, hackers can reveal individuals' banking details or, worse still, steal their identities.

How Is That Related to My Federal Employee Retirement Funds? 

Hackers have already had great success making their way into U.S. government computers. In December 2020, major news media reported about a massive computer breach, believed to be from Russia, that "allowed hackers to spend months exploring numerous U.S. government networks and private companies' systems around the world."

When government computers undergo a cyberattack, federal employee health benefits records are vulnerable, too. None of us who have served in civil service want to retire without the assurance that our benefits will take good care of our health. Federal employee group life insurance is another valuable asset that a cyberattack could compromise, as well as other federal retirement benefits. 

Even worse is the fear of having our identities stolen. The Office of Public Management (OPM) has reported several successful attacks on federal employee records. Compromised information may include:

• Social Security numbers

• Education records

• Employment histories

• Details of friends, family, and acquaintances

• Health information

• Financial records

• Criminal records

All this data makes it easy for criminals to steal your identity, which can mean someone else may gain access to your federal employee retirement funds. 

This is why you need to take action to protect those benefits you have worked so hard to procure.

So What Can I Do To Protect Myself?

Monitor Your Credit 

You can't do anything to solve the problems caused by a cyberattack until you know the attack has happened. Often, the entity (company or agency) that has suffered an attacked will inform you. But sometimes, you won't receive the alert about a security breach immediately. One way to get ahead of slow notifications is to monitor your credit. 

Retirement Systems Solutions (RSS) can help you do this and notify you about unusual activity in your financial accounts. This information is essential to have. 

However, once you have been alerted to a problem, you've only reached the first step towards solving it.  Credit monitoring companies can also help you with the messy aftermath of identity theft. Fixing your credit rating is just one of the many things you will have to do before you can get your life back to normal. 

Freeze Your Credit

Remember the last time you bought a new car when the salesman checked your credit before offering you a loan? Well, freezing your credit (also known as a security freeze) stops this information from being released, so it also prevents identity thieves from opening credit cards or applying for lines of credit in your name. Credit freezes do not hurt your credit rating, but they take time to set up and undo. 

Retirement Systems Solutions (RSS) can help you find a credit monitoring company and so much more. RSS offers customers support in all areas of managing and understanding their federal benefits. RSS offers tailored benefits analysis to federal employees, helping you understand benefits and get ready for retirement. RSS also advises on financial practices to help customers make the most of their assets.

Be sure to contact Retirement Systems Solutions for more information about our retirement services and federal employee benefits analysis. Our office is at 725 Cool Springs Blvd., Franklin, TN 37067. You can reach us by phone at (833) 972-1349 or by email at info@rssbenefits.com  

Call today—and we'll take the worry out of managing your federal employee retirement benefits.