Data flies out of breach at FAA

Maybe it's a bigger story when a government agency isn't breached. This week's hacked federal database is property of the Federal Aviation Administration, and it holds among other things records on 45,000 employees and retirees connected with the FAA as of the first week of February 2006.

The FAA issued a statement describing the breach in very general terms, noting that the compromised computer didn't have anything to do with any air-traffic control systems or other operational system. The agency has called in "appropriate law enforcement agencies," it says, and says that the employees and former employees whose records were breaches will receive individual letters with more information about what may have happened and what can be done.