Posted on 05/22/2006 10:06:13 AM PDT by areafiftyone
May 22, 2006 — Personal data on about 26.5 million U.S. military veterans was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs data analyst who improperly took the material home, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday.
The data included names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for the veterans, Nicholson said, but "there is no indication at this time" that the data had been used for identify theft.
Nicholson said the theft of the data took place this month, but declined to identify the employee or the location of the burglary.
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VA's Notification Letter to Veterans
Dear Veteran:
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has recently learned that an employee took home electronic data from the VA, which he was not authorized to do and was in violation of established policies.
The employee’s home was burglarized and this data was stolen. The data contained identifying information including names, social security numbers, and dates of birth for up to 26.5 million veterans and some spouses, as well as some disability ratings.
As a result of this incident, information identifiable with you was potentially exposed to others. It is important to note that the affected data did not include any of VA’s electronic health records or any financial information.
Appropriate law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the VA Inspector General’s office, have launched full-scale investigations into this matter. Authorities believe it is unlikely the perpetrators targeted the items because of any knowledge of the data contents.
It is possible that they remain unaware of the information which they possess or of how to make use of it. Out of an abundance of caution, however, VA is taking all possible steps to protect and inform our veterans.
While you do not need to take any action unless you are aware of suspicious activity regarding your personal information, there are many steps you may take to protect against possible identity theft and we wanted you to be aware of these. Specific information is included in the attached question and answer sheet. For additional information, the VA has teamed up the Federal Trade Commission and has a website (www.firstgov.gov) with information on this matter or you may call 1-800-FED-INFO (1-800-333-4636). The call center will operate from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. (EDT), Monday-Saturday, as long as it is needed.
We apologize for any inconvenience or concern this situation may cause, but we at the VA believe it is important for you to be fully informed of any potential risk resulting from this incident. Again, we want to reassure you we have no evidence that your protected data has been misused. We will keep you apprised of any further developments.
The men and women of the VA take our obligation to honor and serve America’s veterans very seriously and we are committed to seeing this never happens again.
Sincerely, R. James Nicholson Secretary of Veterans Affairs
I'd also recommend contacting one of the credit reporting agencies and having an initial fraud alert placed on your file. It's good for at least 90 days and they share the information with the other reporting agencies - so no need to call all three.
Equifax 1-800-525-6285
Experian 1-888-397-3742
TransUnion 1-800-680-7289
I hope the data of the vets in the Senate who think it's cute to forgive identity theft is included. (Shame on me for wishing ill on others.)
Of course their records are probably super-dooper protected, through their own legislation, as opposed to the mere mortal servicemen and women's who's information has been compromised.
Is there any way to get this moved up to breaking news or somewhere prominent?
It's a very important story to many here and I just happened to catch it when I hit refresh.
Related:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1636466/posts
Social Security Numbers for Millions of Veterans Stolen From Senior Official's Home
Sandy Berger??
Hey, maybe we can finally get to see John Kerry's medical records. . .
This is the government's way of saying "thank you" for serving your country.
Clinton Operative trying to complete her FBI files.
You got it buddy! The scum that we have running this country and its affairs deserve the ultimate punishment.
Let's see. We have NSA surveillance stories in the news for weeks/months. We have the head of the NSA up for the job of head of the CIA. He also happens to be military. And here you have this security breach by a VA data analyst who happens to take home a disc of personal information of every living veteran for the past 40 years? Hmmmmmm. Sounds fishy to me. Wonder how they figured out that he took this particular disc home. Hmmmmm. Did he/she confess? Or did they already know?
I believe the report stated that anyone discharged from 1975 to present is included.
OK. So I'll get two Mickie-D coupons then. Where is Sammy the Bull now that we really need him?? 8~)...
OTOH, maybe I can tell the boss that the pr0n that showed up on that hotel bill was identity theft...yeah, that's it...
Someone needs to file a lawsuit under FOIA and get the name of the guy that took his work home.
It would appear that the good old VA needs to spring for a huge batch of credit report/alerts for a huge bunch of vets.
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