There were several high profile cases of large corporations having sensitive personal data compromised in the past year. Now the Veterans Affairs Dept. is looking into a very scary scenario indeed. Via AP:
Personal data, including Social Security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month after he took the information home without authorization, the department said Monday.
Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said there was no evidence so far that the burglars who struck the employee’s home have used the personal data — or even know they have it. The employee, a data analyst whom Nicholson would not identify, has been placed on leave pending a review.
“We have a full-scale investigation,” said Nicholson, who said the FBI, local law enforcement and the VA inspector general were investigating. “I want to emphasize, there was no medical records of any veteran and no financial information of any veteran that’s been compromised.”
I don’t know about that last quote. If 26.5 million social security numbers have been compromised, there is a great chance that their financial information could be as well.
The VA has set up a call center at 1-800-FED-INFO and Web site, http://www.firstgov.gov, if veterans believe their information has been misused.
The material represents personal data of all living veterans who served and have been discharged since 1976, according to the department.
Wow.
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