Data on 2.2M Active Troops Stolen From VA

Las Vegas Sun ^ | 7 Jun 06 | Hope Yen

[S.O.L.]

The delay is the VA publicizing this was a good thing - as it is possible the thief was too stupid to realize what he had and just reformatted the drive so he could use the laptop and has hopefully overwritten enogh of the data that it is not useable.

However, I am still waiting for the government to advise if my data was included. I came off active duty before 1975 and after many years in the active reserves was eventually discharged from the inactive reserves well after 1975.

[Grut]

why is FR more secure thatn a government database?

Lousy search engine? ;^)

[Calpernia]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/06/AR2006060601332.html?referrer=email&referrer=email&referrer=email
Data Theft Affected Most in Military
National Security Concerns Raised

By Ann Scott Tyson and Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, June 7, 2006; Page A01

Excerpts:

- 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst

- security experts said, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live. "This essentially can create a Zip code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

- information could reach foreign governments and their intelligence services or other hostile forces, allowing them to target service members and their families, the experts said.

- Montgomery County police are offering a $50,000 reward for information that allows authorities to recover the laptop. The computer is a Hewlett-Packard model zv5360us and the external hard drive is an HP External Personal Media Drive.

- The Washington Post is not publishing the name of the career data analyst whose laptop was stolen in response to a request from law enforcement authorities who are investigating its disappearance. (oh the irony)

- VA receives records for every new recruit because active-duty personnel, National Guard members and reservists are eligible for certain VA benefits, such as GI Bill educational assistance and the home-loan program.

[bkwells]

Great.... that's the third time now my info has been stolen. First was TriWest, then Bank of America, and now this. Damn, damn... this guy who took the discs home ought to be shot!

[af_vet_rr]

This would fall under "national security crisis".

Guy who allowed this happen - needs to at minimum go to prison for the rest of his life. The people above who allowed such data to be on a laptop - they need to do some time too. This stuff doesn't just happen, there was a breakdown in procedures somewhere in the chain that allowed such data to be copied to mobile devices, and a breakdown in the chain that somebody thought it was alright to copy such data.

I'm not just saying this as somebody who maybe affected, both for my records, and for those of my nephews and daughter who are actually active duty, but as somebody who has worked around such data.

There is no excuse for this, and people need to do time, both to be punished for allowing the conditions for this to happen, and to set an example for future data handlilng.

We'll hear some bullsh*t sob story about nobody thought this could happen and it was a simple mistake, but records like this don't just walk out the door - somebody deliberately copied the data, and they should have known better than to leave it unsecured.

[surely_you_jest]

We'll hear some bullsh*t sob story about nobody thought this could happen and it was a simple mistake, but records like this don't just walk out the door - somebody deliberately copied the data, and they should have known better than to leave it unsecured.

According to this 25 May Fox article - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,196944,00.html - this guy had been taking this data home for three years.

This is no simple mistake. It is a course of conduct. And it ups the ante considerably for this guy, and his entire supervisory chain.

While there is no way to put the toothpaste back into the tube, these people ought to pay a very severe price. And a couple of firings and resignations, no doubt with retirement bennies remaining intact, isn't going to cut it in my book.

[xzins]

- security experts said, the information could be used to find out where military personnel live. "This essentially can create a Zip code for where each of the service members and [their] families live, and if it fell into the wrong hands could potentially put them at jeopardy of being targeted," said David Heyman, director of the homeland security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

When one knows an address, then one also can make educated guesses about which unit the member is assigned to. If one knows rank, then one can make educated guesses about what job the member is assigned to. If one only knows age, then educated guesses about rank can be made.

One absolutely can rule out all other assignments in the US military except for those close to the zip code being referenced.

This is gross negligence.

[af_vet_rr]

Three years? Try him for treason. There is no excuse. This wasn't "well I decided to take a little work home over the weekend" type of deal.

While there is no way to put the toothpaste back into the tube, these people ought to pay a very severe price. And a couple of firings and resignations, no doubt with retirement bennies remaining intact, isn't going to cut it in my book.

I view this at the same level as somebody selling out to the Chinese or the Soviets of old. They have potentially provided information to our enemies that directly puts our soldiers and their families at risk. Especially their families.

[Calpernia]

Our defense is in essence, hostages.

There was mentions in this transcript about the enemy gathering personal data on our men.

STATEMENT OF SGT. BARRY F. RHODEN (The McCarthy Transcript Liberals Do Not Want You To Read)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/940575/posts

[dogbyte12]

I am very sure the government is going to pay me $1,000 for losing my records. Not.

[dangus]

How do you steal 2.2 million troops? (They goodness they at least have some data to start looking for them!)

[xzins]

:>)

[af_vet_rr]

They will give you a nice excuse. That's what they are good at. They will blame "the process". Nobody will really be held accountable, because that's how the government works these days.