House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz said Thursday he is optimistic the Social Security Administration is keeping personally identifiable information away from hackers.

That optimism, said the Utah Republican who heads the House’s premier investigative committee, includes information that Social Security possesses on himself and his children.

At the same time, he berated the agency for poor information security systems and practices that opened the Office of Personnel Management up to an attack two years ago from cyber thieves who stole information on tens of millions of current and former federal employees, as wells as federal job applicants who were never hired.

Chaffetz’s comments came at an Oversight Committee meeting.

Generally during Congressional hearings, the Republican members more often give Obama administration officials grief than the benefit of the doubt.

But Thursday’s session was relatively free of vitriol.

One of the most glaring weaknesses in Social Security computer systems was spotlighted by one of the agency’s own officials.

A key problem for the agency is that most of its main computer systems are more than 30 years old and primarily serviced by soon-to-retire staffers, said Social Security’s Chief Information Officer Robert Klopp.

“We have to modernize these systems before this knowledge is gone,” warned Klopp.

SSA Deputy Inspector General Gale Stallworth cautioned sensitive personal information held by the Social Security Administration is at risk and will be until security is improved.

Acting Social Security Administrator Carolyn Colvin defended the agency’s cybersecurity program and said it compares well against other federal units.

During the hearing, Colvin announced the agency will, starting this summer, improve security with additional personal information protection: Social Security website users will need to enter a username, password and one-time texted passcode to a Social Security-registered cellphone to access their accounts.

Social Security’s payments of $930 billion last year to 67 million beneficiaries amounted to 5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product.