I'm thinking

[imported_kiddsmom]

Work should be kept at work.* There is so much in the news lately about critical information being stolen out of cars and now homes.* I realize it can be stolen from the workplace, but geesh, let's try to lessen the chances of theft. LINKY

Thieves Steal Personal Data of 26.5M Vets By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
43 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including* * *Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday.

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The information involved mainly those veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency may have been included.

Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, and an investigation was continuing.

"It's highly probable that they do not know what they have," he said in a briefing with reporters. "We have decided that we must exercise an abundance of caution and make sure our veterans are aware of this incident."

Veterans advocates expressed alarm.

"This was a very serious breach of security for American veterans and their families," said Bob Wallace, executive director of Veterans of Foreign Wars. "We want the VA to show leadership, management and accountability for this breach."

Ramona Joyce, spokeswoman for the American Legion, agreed that the theft was a concern. "In the information age, we're constantly told to protect our information. We would ask no less of the VA," she said.

Nicholson declined to comment on the specifics of the incident, which involved a midlevel data analyst who had taken the information home to suburban Maryland on a laptop to work on a department project.

The residential community had been a target of a series of burglaries when the employee was victimized earlier this month, according to the* * *FBI in Baltimore. Local law enforcement and the VA inspector general were also investigating.

"I want to emphasize there was no medical records of any veteran and no financial information of any veteran that's been compromised," Nicholson said, although he added later that some information on the veterans' disabilities may have been taken.

Nicholson said he does not know how many of the department's 235,000 employees go thorough background investigations. He said employees who have access to large volumes of personal data should be required to undergo such checks, but he does not believe the VA employee was involved in the theft.

"We do not suspect at all any ulterior motive," he said.

The department has come under criticism for shoddy accounting practices and for falling short on the needs of veterans.

Last year, more than 260,000 veterans could not sign up for services because of cost-cutting. Audits also have shown the agency used misleading accounting methods and lacked documentation to prove its claimed savings.

"It is a mystifying and gravely serious concern that a VA data analyst would be permitted to just walk out the VA door with such information," Illinois Rep. Lane Evans (news, bio, voting record), the top Democrat on the Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement signed by other Democrats on the panel.

Sen.* * *John Kerry, D-Mass., who is a Vietnam veteran, said he would introduce legislation to require the VA to provide credit reports to the veterans affected by the theft.

"This is no way to treat those who have worn the uniform of our country," Kerry said. "Someone needs to be fired."

The VA said it was notifying members of Congress and the individual veterans about the burglary. It has set up a call center at 1-800-FED-INFO and Web site, http://www.firstgov.gov, for veterans who believe their information has been misused.

It also is stepping up its review of procedures on the use of personal data for many of its employees who telecommute as well as others who must sign disclosure forms showing they are aware of federal privacy laws and the consequences if they're violated.

Deborah Platt Majoras, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said her task force has reached out to the three major credit bureaus to be alert to possible misuse.

[2LabsInNEPA]

I'm obviously looking for more information on this since I retired at the end of 2003. It seems that only vets who applied for VA benifits might be affected but I can't find anything that confirms that assumption. If so, I'm OK - but I will surely be watching my bank & credit card statements closely.

[theoconbrio]

We had a situation at my university (not my division, thankfully) where someone took home a laptop with thousands of personal student records on a database, on an UNENCRYPTED HARD DRIVE. Of course, the laptop was stolen. They got it back, and nothing was used, but it was a huge issue.

Encrypted partitions are so easy to set up now, I simply don't understand what people are thinking. Especially given the regulations that have followed from the Privacy Act.

[claire]

I just forwarded the info to my ex
he was medically discharged fromt he marines around 1981ish

and Nathan -- agreed. its so easy to encrypt data - those who are responsible for setting up systems that store sensitive info should be slapped if they don't secure these machines better.

[sawyersammy]

We're keeping a close eye out too, Mark. Ron retired in 1998 from the US Navy. :-\

[imported_Melissa]

I got a letter from the AICPA last week that said one of their servers is missing. Apparently someone sent it OUT for repairs - which is completely against their policy, of course.

The cool thing they're doing is providing all of us with one year of credit monitoring for free.

[imported_Maple1]

Don't know if this is true, but on the radio this morning they said that if you add up all the other similar events - ChoicePoint the banks etc that 55 million people had their info stolen/lost whatever.

So, this one instance 26 million singlehandedly increases the total people impacted by almost 50%