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Tab Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 01:38 PM
Original message
Stolen VA data goes beyond initial reports
WASHINGTON - Personal information on 26.5 million veterans that was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month not only included Social Security numbers and birthdates but in many cases phone numbers and addresses, internal documents show. The three pages of memos by the VA, written by privacy officer Mark Whitney and distributed to high-level officials shortly after the May 3 burglary, offer new details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches. The memos were obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/us/us_armed_forces
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Journeyman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 02:09 PM
Response to Original message
1. BushCo. . .the disaster that just keeps giving. . .
n/t
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stepnw1f Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 02:54 PM
Response to Original message
2. Inside GOP Job!
I have no doubt. These two-faced motha's have contempt for America. I bet Bush's father got depressed when Hitler lost the war.
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prolesunited Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 03:13 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. To what end, though?
What do you think they will do with this data?
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Dan Donating Member (595 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 03:15 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. thinking outside the box....
Seems like a justification for a National ID card.
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stepnw1f Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #4
6. yup! (nt)
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snappyturtle Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #4
10. I think you got it!
These slimy so and so's know that the public will rebuke a National ID but with purposeful stealing of personal information will guarantee sheeple wanting accurate ID....so sad and :scary:
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BadgerKid Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:42 PM
Response to Reply #4
14. Yup. Stirred up by immigration, too. n/t
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TheCentepedeShoes Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:53 PM
Response to Reply #4
15. Always wanted to say it
DING! DING! DING! We have a winner. This, plus the immigration issue. That's two. What's the BushCo "trifecta" gonna be this time?
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stepnw1f Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 03:19 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. It's Not What They Do With It
so much as what the corpos do with it. Every person that has lost their personal info is now insecure, and vulnerable to credit abuse. The end result may not mean as much as the favor of stealing or "losing" all that data. Shit... and I'm worried about throwing away a receipt of any kind. The system is broke, now we have to fix it.... I now have no privacy nor security in this country. Mission accomplished.
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TexasLawyer Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 04:28 PM
Response to Reply #3
7. sell it and add $ to the slush fund
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tanyev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 04:40 PM
Response to Reply #2
9. A Chronology of Data Breaches Reported Since ChoicePoint (Feb 05)
Truly horrifying. I am only posting the incidents for May 2006. Much like 9/11 and Katrina, I find myself wondering if it is merely a spectacular display of incompetence or something more sinister.

May 2,
2006 Ohio University
(Athens, OH) Hackers accessed a computer system of the school's alumni relations department that included biographical information and 137,000 Social Security numbers of alum. 300,000

May 2,
2006 Georgia State Government
(Atlanta, GA) Government surplus computers that sold before their hard drives were erased contained credit card numbers, birth dates, and Social Security numbers of Georgia citizens. Unknown

May 4,
2006 Idaho Power Co.
(Boise, ID) Four company hard drives were sold on eBay containing hundreds of thousands of confidential company documents, employee names and Social Security numbers, and confidential memos to the company's CEO. Unknown

May 5,
2006 Wells Fargo
(San Francisco, CA) Computer containing names, addresses, Social Security numbers and mortgage loan deposit numbers of existing and prospective customers may have been stolen while being delivered from one bank facility to another. Unknown

May 11,
2006 Ohio University
Hudson Health Center
(Athens, OH) Names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and medical information were accessed in records of students dating back to 2001, plus faculty, workers and regional campus students. 60,000

May 12,
2006 Mercantile Potomac Bank
(Gaithersburg, MD) Laptop containing confidential information about customers, including Social Security numbers and account numbers was stolen when a bank employee removed it from the premises, in violation of the bank's policies. The computer did not contain customer passwords, personal identification numbers (PIN numbers) or account expiration dates. 48,000

May 19,
2006 American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA)
(New York, NY) An unencrypted hard drive containing names, addresses and Social Security numbers of AICPA members was lost when it was shipped back to the organization by a computer repair company.
300,000

May 22,
2006 Dept. of Veterans Affairs
(Washington, DC) Data of all American veterans who were discharged since 1975 including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth was stolen from a VA employee's home. The employee was not authorized to take the files home to work on a data collation project. The data did not contain medical or financial information, but may have disability numerical rankings. 26,500,000

May 23,
2006 Univ. of Delaware
(Newark, DE) Security breach of a Department of Public Safety computer server potentialy exposes names, Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers. 1,076

May 23,
2006 M&T Bank
(Buffalo, NY) Laptop computer, owned by PFPC, a third party company that provides record keeping services for M & T's Portfolio Architect accounts was stolen from a vehicle. The laptop contained clients' account numbers, Social Security numbers, last name and the first two letters of their first name. Unknown

May 24,
2006 Sacred Heart Univ.
(Fairfield, CT) Computer containing personal information including names, addreses and Social Security numbers was breached. Unknown

May 24,
2006 American Red Cross, St. Louis Chapter
(St. Louis, Dishonest employee had access to Social Security numbers of donors to call urging them to give blood again. The employee misused the persoal information of at least 3 people to perpetrate identity theft and had access to the personal information of 1 million donors. 1,000,000


TOTAL 83,114,945

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm
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stepnw1f Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:04 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. Holy Shit... Tell Me There isn't Something Suspicious Here
This post of yours, should be a thread on it's own. Thank you!
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tanyev Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:29 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. I know the only reason I found that website is because somebody
else on DU posted it a few weeks ago, but my searching is not turning up a thread. I guess another one would be a good idea. Will do.
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dbt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 04:31 PM
Response to Original message
8. You are jiving me.
Something is WORSE than the Regime admitted?!?!?!

:evilgrin:
dbt
Remember New Orleans
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IndianaGreen Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 06:07 PM
Response to Original message
12. Oh, shit!
Are we going to get a letter from VA telling us if our personal data is in jeopardy?
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BOHICA06 Donating Member (886 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-01-06 08:31 AM
Response to Reply #12
21. I fully expect to see something ....
....as I'm sure I was in that bunch!
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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 03:56 PM
Response to Reply #21
25. Everyone who served is in that bunch.
Edited on Sun Jun-04-06 03:57 PM by Rex
The scope of this crime cannot be understated, every vet probably from Vietnam to now has lost their PERSONAL data (fuck liberty and the RIGHT to happiness) to some govt black project dreamed up over in OSP by Rummy or worse. This has Total Information Awareness written all over it!

I feel violated. :(
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Tom Yossarian Joad Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 10:10 AM
Response to Reply #12
22. If you're lucky.
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Johnyawl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #12
23. All us vets will soon be getting letters from the RNC...

...telling us how anti-military the Dems are, and how we better be sure to vote for republicans in the '06 elections.

I'm convinced that this charade was concieved by Rove for the dual purpose of having a veteran data base to solicite,(rupugs do better generally with the veteran voters, so it would be in their interest to get that group out to vote) and then to sell to telemarketers to finance the RNC. (remember that turd blossom started out as a telemarketer)
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TheCowsCameHome Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 08:34 PM
Response to Original message
16. How nice. I feel so safe and secure with the GOP in charge.
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Lasher Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 08:35 PM
Response to Original message
17. That's what I was afraid of, they're lying about how much was compromised
Initially they said no medical records were included in the stolen information. I'm pretty sure those were carefully chosen words, intended to deceive. In the case of VA medical files, I'm pretty sure each vet's enrollment priority would have been included in the stolen records. These priorities often indicate an individual's disabilitiy status. If there is a record that indicates I am disabled, that is a medical record.

Damage control is the first priority here. You would think that the assholes would at least be good enough to be honest with us about exactly what information has been compromised.
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lovuian Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 08:38 PM
Response to Original message
18. our identity is up for grabs... the system is broken
they will need to fix it ID card... but they need to get amnesty first for the immigrants before working on it...
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Paulie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed May-31-06 08:52 PM
Response to Original message
19. In the corporate world the "Privacy Officer" is also sometimes known as...
... the "Vice President in charge of going to jail."

Bye Bye Mark!!!
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tomreedtoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-01-06 07:31 AM
Response to Original message
20. How else can Republicans start a mailing list?
The old means of getting mailing lists of vets, and convincing them that only Republicans support them, was so inefficient. I'm surprised they didn't think of doing this earlier. It only took the Bushies five years to figure it out.
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Rex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jun-04-06 03:51 PM
Response to Original message
24. 'one of the nation's largest security breaches'
To bad no one gives a DAM in our Fed govt to catch the people responsible for this elaborate (er random :eyes:) theft. Doesn't anyone stand for an honest days work in the Fed govt? Anyone?

Great so they got phone numbers AND PO/physical street addresses...sounds like a TIA project to me. I'm so pissed off! :mad:
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