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Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1426
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 10:25 pm: | 
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www.navyclubusa.org/ veteransaffairs.htm
Thieves Steal Personal Data of 26.5M Vets
May 22, 6:54 PM (ET)
By HOPE YEN
(AP) Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales, center, left, answers questions from the media at the Justice...
Full Image
WASHINGTON (AP) - Thieves took sensitive personal information on 26.5 million U.S. veterans, including Social Security numbers and birth dates, after a Veterans Affairs employee improperly brought the material home, the government said Monday.
The information involved mainly those 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 may have been included.
Nicholson said there was no evidence the thieves had used the data for identity theft, 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."
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thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 982
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 7:44 am: |
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If 27 million records are on a CD, it's probably not in a format that a casual thief would know how to access. (Maybe a database engineer can help on that assumption.) It's not like the names and SSNs are neatly arranged in a Word or Excel file that any one of us could simply open up on our PC. Also, the thief probably just wanted the laptop and threw out any disks or CDs that might have been in it.
Clearly, the employee should be fired. |
Dave
Supporter
Username: Dave
Post Number: 9548
Registered: 4-1997
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 9:28 am: |
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Quote:"It's highly probable that they do not know what they have,"
until it became front page news, nationwide |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14401
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 11:33 am: |
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And security through obscurity shouldn't give anyone warm fuzzy feelings. In other words, don't rely on the fact that no one knows how to make sense of the data.
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Pippi
Supporter
Username: Pippi
Post Number: 2246
Registered: 8-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 1:27 pm: |
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Source: Theft of vets' data kept secret for 19 days
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/23/vets.data/index.html |
Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1431
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 23, 2006 - 10:21 pm: |
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Dont forget family members, could be 75 million.
This VA sec, Jim Nicholson, I know that name..............
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thegoodsgt
Citizen
Username: Thegoodsgt
Post Number: 986
Registered: 2-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 7:51 am: |
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Comment: "It's highly probable that they do not know what they have,"
Response: "Until it became front page news, nationwide."
You're assuming the thief:
- Watched the news on Monday. (And Monday is the important day, as most stories tend to fall away after they're first reported.)
- Knows that the particular laptop he stole is from the home of that particular VA employee. (I don't recall seeing the employee's name or hometown reported anywhere.)
- Knows he stole that particular laptop on that particular day. (I don't recall seeing the specific date of the theft reported, and laptops are probably stolen every day around the country.)
- Still has the CD (that is, he didn't throw it away when he first nabbed the laptop) AND the CD is clearly labled "Veteran records" so he knows what he has (Unlikely since the employee allegedly copied the data onto the CD.)
- Would know who/where to sell the CD if he realized the significance of his booty.
- The person who finally acquires the CD would need to have a background in Oracle or SQL (?) to make any sense of the bits and bites.
Even as a veteran whose records are on that CD, I'm not losing any sleep. Crime in Maplewood and South Orange is more likely to affect my life.
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Foj
Citizen
Username: Foger
Post Number: 1436
Registered: 9-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 24, 2006 - 10:36 pm: |
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This VA sec, Jim Nicholson, I know that name..............
Fomer RNC chair............
On another note, how do you fit the records of nearly 70 million people on a CD.
Whats a CD got 700 Megabytes? |
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