dAMN yOU us govt

[ImOuttaControl]

Ok...I know this sucks...but reading this thread you would think the end of the world has occured.

Relax shit happens...there are much more dire things in the world then this.

But it does suck

Agreed. I read this thread and I honestly couldn't tell if people were being serious or not.

It totally does suck, but I think 4U2Play summed it up nicely. Blame the neglectful employee. More importantly, blame the freakin person who stole the laptop!

Hopefully the info was erased and no harm will come out of this.

 

[4U2Play]

It totally does suck, but I think 4U2Play summed it up nicely. Blame the neglectful employee. More importantly, blame the freakin person who stole the laptop!

Rightly or wrongly, it's common for people to blame faceless organizations for the sins of one of its members, nothing new there.

I think the VA did a commendable job in setting up a very helpful website, sending out the 26 million letters and alerting the media to what happened so that every vet that I know personally is well aware of what happened, and all have taken the necessary precautions to guard against any potential foul play.

 

[najeena]

My husband recieved a letter from the VA in the mail today, the first time I remember him getting mail from them. What's inside? I wouldn't open his mail, but if it says he's at risk of identification theft now, there will be some draconian security measures put in place at our home. Damn, I thought we'd ducked the bullet.

 

[corianderstem]

Data security is a Big Deal right now where I work, as they try to educate everyone for what to do and what not to do.

Don't put personal information (SSNs, whatever ... any information that shouldn't get out) onto the hard drive of your laptop.

If you're taking your laptop home, and you make stops along the way, take the laptop with you. Never leave the laptop in your car, even the trunk.

If the laptop happens to get stolen from your home, then you'd better pray you followed the first rule and didn't have any protected information on its hard drive.

So much of it seems like common sense in this day and age, and yet every week you hear of another laptop stolen from a big company and oops! More customer/employee data has flown the coop.

(This PSA brought to you by corianderstem. )

 

[Dreadsox]

Um.

This stuff isn't allowed to leave the VA HQ.

Did you read the letter?

An individual employee, in violation of VA procedure, took home a laptop containing the SS #s. The employee's house was subsequently burgled and the laptop was stolen.

Uncle Sam didn't do it. The US Government didn't do it. The VA didn't do it.

A thief and a neglectful VA employee did it.

Bonoman is right, relax shit happens. Every vet knows what kind of fubar situtations the military is capable of, so fix it and FIDO.

I only received the warning letter last week, but I have a permanent security flag at all three credit bureaus anyway, so I'm not worried about someone stealing my identity by picking my name out of the 26 million vets listed on that hard drive.

If they try, they will be caught.

Anyone panicked about this should follow Step 1 in the letter and contact the fraud departments of all three credit bureaus at the numbers listed and request a flag on your accounts.

Want to be there are plenty of Vets who cannot be contacted about this? Homeless ones? You and I are lucky.

 

[Dreadsox]

The responses in here amaze me.

Anyways...as long as our own personal info is not affected...no harm no foul.

 

[4U2Play]

Want to be there are plenty of Vets who cannot be contacted about this? Homeless ones? You and I are lucky.

When you found out about this situation, did you get in touch with all your old buddies to see if they know about it, too?

So did I.

As you must know, homeless vets make ample use of the VA, at least around here, so I'm sure even they are made aware of the situation at some point. Many homeless vets also read the daily newspaper and access the internet, so I suspect the numbers of vets who never hear about this will be low.

Thanks for posting it here, though, the more pub the better.

 

[4U2Play]

The responses in here amaze me.Anyways...as long as our own personal info is not affected...no harm no foul.

I'm glad you are amazed, but I think you purposely misinterpreted what I wrote.

Nowhere did I say that as long as my personal info is not affected, who cares about the rest. To infer otherwise is an insult.

The gist of my original comment was that the situation was being dealt with in as timely and thorough manner as possible... do you have a better solution? Let's hear it.

Whining, crying and blaming a cartoon character "Uncle Sam" for this predicament is fruitless and unbecoming. If homeless vets start getting their identities stolen as a result of this case, then perhaps lawsuits and the like would be in order against that employee.

Until then, notify every vet you know and make sure they all follow the four steps to protecting one's identity listed in the letter.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

By Christopher Lee and Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post | June 30, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials yesterday announced the recovery of computer equipment stolen from an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. They said that sensitive personal information of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel apparently had not been accessed.

The laptop and external hard drive, stolen May 3 from a VA data analyst's home in Aspen Hill, Md., contained the names, birthdates, and Social Security numbers of millions of current and former service members. The theft was the largest information security breach in government history and raised fears of potential mass identity theft.

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson announced the recovery yesterday during a hearing of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs.

``Law enforcement has in their possession the laptop and hard drive," Nicholson said. ``The serial numbers match. They are diligently conducting forensic analysis on it to see if they can tell whether its been duplicated or utilized or entered in any way, and that work is not complete. However, they did say to me that there is reason to be optimistic."

FBI Special Agent in Charge William Chase, of the agency's Baltimore office, said at a news conference that a person who had the laptop contacted US Park Police Wednesday after seeing news accounts and notices of a $50,000 award offered by Montgomery County, Md., police. The devices were recovered in the ``general vicinity" of Aspen Hill, said Chief Dwight Pettiford of the Park Police.

Chase said it was ``way too early" to say whether the person would get the reward or whether criminal charges would be filed soon. FBI spokeswoman Michelle Crnkovich said the tipster is not a suspect.

``A preliminary review of the equipment by computer forensic teams has determined that the data base remains intact and has not been accessed since it was stolen," the FBI said in a statement. ``A thorough forensic examination is underway, and the results will be shared as soon as possible."

 

[nathan1977]

I'm one of the 40 million Mastercard users who got a call recently saying, "Your information may have been compromised." Of course, I didn't trust the person on the other end of the line....

Spooky.

 

[verte76]

This is disgusting.