It probably does not make you feel pretty secure when you learn the the Department of Homeland Security suffered yet another security breach.  This one was disclosed recently by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  The breach actually occurred at a third party contractor US Investigations Services (USIS) which performs background checks for the DHS.  In the breach, personal information on 25,000 or more DHS employees was taken by what appears to be hackers from a foreign government.  USIS already has somewhat of a checkered past, having been the company that did the background check on former NSA employee and whistle blower, Edward Snowden as well as the background check on Aaron Alexis, a military contractor employee who shot and killed twelve people at the Navy Yard in Washington DC.

TIPS

This is just another example of the fact that regardless of how good you are at protecting your personal data, you are only as secure as the place with the weakest security that holds your information.  This applies to private companies and government agencies alike.  There have been many data breaches at both.  The best you can do is to limit, as much as possible the information that you provide anyone and always be vigilant in monitoring all of your accounts for fraud and identity theft.