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Thieves Rip Off 26.5 Million Veterans Data
By Alex Bard
Staff Writer
Article Date: 2006-05-23
Sensitive personal info on 26.5 million U.S. veterans was stolen when a Veterans Affairs employee took the material home. Obviously, this was a gross violation of government policy.
The material included Social Security numbers and birth dates. Those two pieces of information can lead to identity theft, fraud, and whatever damage today's online thieves can dream up.
The theft was made possible when a midlevel analyst for VA took the information home to work on a department project on his laptop. According the Baltimore office of the FBI, the employee's home had already been burglarized earlier this month.
Local law enforcement and the VA inspector general were also investigating.
The information primarily involved veterans who served and have been discharged since 1975, said VA Secretary Jim Nicholson. Data of veterans discharged before 1975 who submitted claims to the agency might have been included.
Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data and an investigation was continuing.
"It's highly probable that they do not know what they have," he said in a briefing with reporters. "We have decided that we must exercise an abundance of caution and make sure our veterans are aware of this incident."
(It would seem that now that Seattlepi.com has published this story, the thieves might now be aware of what they have.)
Nicholson admitted that he does not know how many of the department's 235,000 employees go thorough background investigations, but he does not believe the VA employee was involved in the theft.
"We do not suspect at all any ulterior motive," he said.
Ramona Joyce, spokeswoman for the American Legion, agreed that the theft was a concern. "In the information age, we're constantly told to protect our information. We would ask no less of the VA," she said.
Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who is a Vietnam veteran, said he would introduce legislation to require the VA to provide credit reports to the veterans affected by the theft. Kerry said. "Someone needs to be fired."
The VA said it was notifying members of Congress and the individual veterans about the theft and set up a call center at 1-800-FED-INFO and Web site, http://www.firstgov.gov, for veterans who believe their information has been misused.
Deborah Platt Majoras, chair of the Federal Trade Commission, said her task force has reached out to the three major credit bureaus to be alert to possible misuse.
Vets ID Theft Victims
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About the Author:
Alex Bard is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.
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