Worried about the federal employee data breach?

Millions of current and former U.S. government employees’ information was stolen in a massive data breach at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), that, according to reports, included the theft of social security numbers and other information. In a post on its website, OPM confirmed the breach and said it will contact affected individuals directly in the coming days to offer help, including free credit monitoring.

Given how common data breaches have become, we have tips for consumers on our website. However, as this data breach appears to include social security numbers and other sensitive information that isn’t typically stolen when a retail store suffers a data breach, we’ve revised our tips.

Here are our suggestions for folks affected by the OPM data breach:

1. Be on watch for scammers

According to the OPM announcement on its site, affected parties will be notified by an email from opmcio@csid.com.

But be warned. Scammers may try to contact you by email, phone or other means. They may know enough about your to sound convincing. So take these steps to outwit them:

• Do not share any personal information with anyone who calls out of the blue;

• Do not press numbers on a phone call that you did not initiate;

• Do not click on any email links in emails. Period. Copy and paste the link into your browser if you think it is legit.

Following these do’s and don’ts is important because someone might be emailing or calling you now and into the future to get more personal information from you or to rip you off.

Sign-up for free credit monitoring

This is an ongoing review of your credit history that a credit reporting bureau does. Doing this won’t let you know if someone is using your existing accounts without your permission, but it will let you know if someone opened a new account in your name. The OPM is offering this service for free, so be sure to sign up. According to OPM, you can get more information at www.csid.com/opm, or by calling toll-free 844-222-2743 (International callers: call collect 512-327-0700).

Check your credit reports regularly

You can check your big 3 (Experian, Trans Union and Equifax) credit reports for free once a year each at annualcreditreport.com. In some states, victims of ID theft can get additional free reports.

A credit report is an overview of your credit history. It will show you accounts open in your name. If you see anything on your report you don’t recognize, act right away.

• For what to do if you spot something wrong on your credit report, see our tips.

• For what to do if you have been the victim of identity theft, see these tips from the FTC.

Consider a fraud alert or security freeze

If you set up a fraud alert that means that anyone who might issue new credit in your name would need to take extra steps to verify your identity first. This can help protect you against someone opening up a new account in your name without your permission. But — a fraud alert won’t tell you if someone is making charges to your current accounts, so keep watching your current accounts closely.

It’s free to set up a fraud alert online: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0275-place-fraud-alert. A fraud alert lasts 90 days, but you can renew it if you want to keep it going.

If you are really worried, consider a security freeze. A freeze means that a credit bureau will flag your credit file so that no one can view your credit report without your permission and issue a new credit account in your name. You can find out more about both here: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0279-extended-fraud-alerts-and-credit-freezes

—Christina Tetreault

More from Consumer Reports:
Best cars for making it to 200,000 miles
6 costly estate planning minefields and how to avoid them
Why you should wait to buy a laptop

Consumer Reports has no relationship with any advertisers on this website. Copyright © 2006-2015 Consumers Union of U.S.