Cybersecurity systems used by the U.S. Postal Service aren’t yet available to most customers, Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe told reporters Tuesday at the National Press Club in a farewell address as the top man in the post office.
“The Postal Service is already using a lot of cyber protection not on the market yet,” Donahoe said. He is retiring at the end of January, having served since Dec. 6, 2010, as the 73rd postmaster general.
The postal service’s systems meet federal cybersecurity standards for government agencies. The USPS is an independent executive branch agency.
But the protections weren’t enough to prevent a hacker penetrating them last year and compromising the medical and other records of nearly half a million postal employees.
“Basically, they want us to build a wall and moat, but sometimes hackers get in anyway,” Donahoe said.
He said he was barred by law from providing new details about the November data breach.
“I can’t say much without breaking the law,” Donahoe said.
He did, however, offer a defense for the Postal Service, noting that data breaches have become almost commonplace at other organizations in recent years.
