WASHINGTON, D.C.—On Saturday, May 13, 2023, the Department of Transportation messaged current and certain past transit benefit subsidy participant email addresses residing within their system concerning a data breach in their system. Some of the emails involved were still utilizing the old “@fs.gov” configurations, and therefore returned an error message. The Forest Service wants to make sure this message reaches all affected employees to ensure they are aware of the situation and can take appropriate action. The initial notification message read as follows: 

“We are writing to inform you of a recent data breach involving your Personally Identifiable Information (PII) and want to make you aware of what may have been impacted and what we are doing to help mitigate any potential risks to you. The data breach impacts individuals that are enrolled in the US Department of Transportation's (DOT) transit benefit program (TRANServe). TRANServe manages the transit benefit program for DOT and other federal agencies. The breach occurred within the system that supports TRANServe.”

The information compromised by the breach may include your name, agency, work email address, work phone number, work address, home address, SmarTrip card number and/or TRANServe Card number. DOT will make credit monitoring available to all participants affected by the breach. Participants may opt in for one year of free credit monitoring services by contacting EFMSupport@dot.gov and stating, "I request credit monitoring." The U.S. Office of Personnel Management previously issued the following helpful guidance to help protect your PII:

• Monitor financial account statements and immediately report any suspicious or unusual activity to financial institutions.
• Request a free credit report at www.AnnualCreditReport.com or by calling 1-877-322-8228. Consumers are entitled by law to one free credit report per year from each of the three major credit bureaus —Equifax, Experian and TransUnion—for a total of three reports every year. Contact information for the credit bureaus can be found on the Federal Trade Commission website, www.ftc.gov.
• Review resources provided on the FTC identity theft website, www.identitytheft.gov. The FTC maintains a variety of consumer publications providing comprehensive information on computer intrusions and identity theft.
• You may place a fraud alert on your credit file to let creditors know to contact you before opening a new account in your name. Simply call TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289 to place this alert. TransUnion will then notify the other two credit bureaus on your behalf.

The breach did not impact May benefits. The processing of pending transit benefit applications is delayed while these system issues are addressed.

For additional information or questions, please email PrivacyAssist@dot.gov, a legitimate email set up by DOT’s OCIO and Privacy Office to centralize, monitor and answer all questions and concerns regarding this incident.”

For employees interested in the Transit Benefit Program, whom are not already enrolled, more information, including local FS points of contact and user guides, can be found on our website: PPS INTERNAL (fs.fed.us). 

Please note, however, that the DOT transit application page itself is currently down and DOT are not able to provide us with a timeframe in which it will operational. Any important additional information will continue to be shared via Inside the Forest Service.

Below is an FAQ with additional information: