The Observer--
WASHINGTON -- the Department of Veterans Affairs and a lawmaker said Friday that a portable hard drive used for backups containing personal information of 48,000 veterans personal information was stolen from an employee at the VA medical Center in Birmingham Ala.
Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., said that 20,000 of the 48,000 records were not encrypted.
The incident is under investigation by the Veteran Affairs administration. The VA plans to notify those persons affected and to offer one year of free credit monitoring service.
yet another example of how security for personal information is taken for granted. Perhaps, it should be a law that
#1 no personal information used by a governmental agency is to be stored on any portable device such as a laptop or external/removable hard drive.
#2 all personal information is to be encrypted and password protected with limited access.
#3 severe penalties for misuse
1 comment:
Just one of the many reasons that the government can't be trusted with our private info and we must fight against them having any more info than they already have. No RFID chips. No illegal wire taps. No internet searchs. No Mas.
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