RSSAnother Laptop with Vet Info Missing
By Ed Oswald | Published August 8, 2006, 12:25 PM
The Department of Veterans Affairs disclosed late Monday that another laptop containing data on up to 38,000 veterans has gone missing. The loss of the data is the result of a possible theft of a laptop from third-party contractor Unisys. The department was informed of the issue on August 3.
News of this latest loss comes just days after two teens were arrested in Maryland in conjunction with the theft of a government laptop with data on 26.5 million veterans and active duty personnel. The laptop was stolen in May, and recovered in late June.
Data contained on these laptops may include names, addresses, social security numbers, and dates of birth. In addition to this information, medical insurance claims along with billing details and dates of service in the military were also included in the data.
Information about 5,000 patients who were treated in Philadelphia, approximately 11,000 patients treated in Pittsburgh, and approximately 2,000 deceased patients are included. An additional 20,000 treated in Pittsburgh may have also been included in the information, although the VA could not confirm this.
"VA's Inspector General, the FBI and local law enforcement are conducting a thorough investigation of this matter," Veterans Affairs secretary R. James Nicholson said. He added the agency itself was making progress on data security, but the loss of a third-party laptop underscored the work still needing to be done.
In a statement, Unisys said it was performing an internal investigation into what occurred leading up to the loss of the laptop. "Unisys will be working with VA regarding the notification of potentially affected veterans and the offering of credit monitoring," it said. "The company will continue to work with the VA and law enforcement to address this incident."
Someone needs to go in there and revoke all off-site access to privacy data permanently. Who is running the IT department over there. Someone needs to be in prison. The Patriot Act ~ what about the privacy act!! I tell you what us veterans ought to do. File a class-action law suit, thats what. This time, let their flagrant and criminal neglegance cost them a couple of billion dollars. As for the two teens that stole the first laptop, give the little hoodlum gun-toting thugs life in prison. The entire judicial system is a joke. Watch as these punks get off with a slap on the hands. Disgusting. Let some poor sap make an error on his IRS return and get slapped with heavy fines and potential jail time. The US Government has their priorities upside down.
Just my .02 worth.
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|why is there no crazily harsh punishment for such negligence? i mean what the hell is going on here? its a constant problem and these people are gambling with our personnal information. there really needs to be a very harsh law against such things. maybe even 5 years in prison to make the person responible think....
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|I hope all the info that the government has accumulated on me because of the Patriot Act is at least on a server somewhere :)
Its amazing that a government operation, let alone a private operation, would store millions of records of personal data on a laptop. That info should not be allowed to leave whatever building the server is in.
Hey, just for S's and G's, on the next laptop, install a wireless card and no firewall or security and just leave it on at the corner Starbucks. 'Would you like some social security numbers with your latte?'
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|My question is, why is this information saved on the computer in the first place. It should only be saved on SECURED servers with only SECURED access. That's the government for you.
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|Need better reporters - it was a desktop, not a laptop.
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|How in the world could someone have stolen a desktop computer that easily?
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|Enough is enough!
It is just incredible the lengths veterans must go through to get copies of personal records, comply with freedom of information and privacy act, etc. just to take care of personal issues. Here we have another situation where Uncle Sam and it's contactors manage to lose more personal data.
The idea that the VA is making progress on data security is a farce. Security measures should have been in place before the information was lost. Again the horse is out of the barnyard and runing amuck. I wonder what bar the laptop was left laying in this time. Where is the accountability?
The idea of some third party contractor runing around with this personal data on a laptop is just unacceptable. Perhaps there will be some action when the Secretatry of Defense, his staff and half of Congress's information is out in the wild. Obviously veterans don't rate where security of their personal information is a factor.
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|I totally agree!!
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|And this is the same government that would jump at a chance to keep a large database with information on every US citizen. Well I certainty feel SAFE.
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