Data Theft- Dept. of Veterans Affairs

26.5 Million People Affected

[digitalghost]

So I get my mail to day and open a letter from the Dept. Of Veterans Affairs to find that an employee broke policy and took electronic records home. His home was burglarized and the records were stolen. Names, SS numbers, dates of birth and disability ratings. The 'data identifiable with you has potentially been exposed to others'. Full-scale FBI and VA investigations have been launched.

Hey, at least I got a letter right?

[edited by: digitalghost at 7:45 pm (utc) on June 12, 2006]

[mcavic]

If I was in charge of the investigation, I would be very interested in knowing (1) how long the records were at his house before the house was burglarized, and (2) whether just the records were stolen, or a whole computer.

Sounds suspicious to me.

[Essex_boy]

burglarized!- robbed my boy, robbed. Speak English.

More of a give up than a robbery.

[Syzygy]

All this recent talk of data theft reminds me of Mr Auric Goldfinger's observation...

Goldfinger said, "Mr Bond, they have a saying in Chicago: 'Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it's enemy action.'"

Syzygy

[digitalghost]

>>burglarized

Yeah, that was the choice of words from the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, R. James Nicholson. Around here, 'tossed' is used often.

I feel confident in knowing that the Dept. that let someone walk out with millions of records is now launching an investigation... I think they suffer from delusions of competency.

[grandpa]

I was wondering how long this event would go without a comment.

Hey, at least I got a letter right?

At least. Problem for the VA is.. multiply any postal rate by 25 + million and that letter cost them a bunch. And that's only the beginning of the financial loss. Among other costs there will be credit reports (probably at a reduced rate or free to the vet). And then personal loss for each vet should this information make into the wrong hands. I personally feel violated just knowing my info is unaccounted for. To my knowledge, it is still missing. The supervisor was sacked, I would hope the mid-level programmer was also sacked, but last that I read about him was that he was suspended without pay.

I know I used to carry program printouts home, to work on in the evening, where the environment was more comfortable, and my productivity rose. It worried me, but that didn't stop me. Mine was corporate property, not customer data. I'd be willing to bet more of this goes on than people would be comfortable knowing about.

[grandpa]

The frequency and volume of this type of event is fast becoming less of a news item and more of a nuisance. Today there is yet another item regarding the loss of data from yet another govt agency, with millions of people put at risk.

The government agency charged with fighting identity theft said Thursday it had lost two government laptops containing sensitive personal data, the latest in a series of breaches encompassing millions of people.

...

The disclosure comes amid a widening data breach that is expected to cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars. In all, five government agencies have reported data theft, including the Veterans Affairs Department, which on May 22 acknowledged losing data on up to 26.5 million veterans.

It's one thing to suffer a loss thru burglary, as cited here [webmasterworld.com], and even that can be prevented. But to leave a laptop in a car, or to take one home from the office is simply asking someone to steal the thing.

What will it take to lock down the data files that have been amassed? Can it be done? Should someone be responsible? Who? If the agency that is fighting identity theft cannot prevent the loss of individual's personal data, who can?

[grandpa]

UPDATE:

The data has been recovered, and forensic testing indicates that the data was not compromised. Also, the analyst had received permission to carry the data and equipment to his home, and he is appealing his firing based on that.