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VA Data Breach Effects Active Duty Personnel

Posted on Jun 7, 2006 by Tom Fragala

The WaPo has a new story on the VA data breach reported on this blog here and here. This breach included sensitive personal data on active duty personnel. That’s especially devastating I feel because if those folks are overseas and have to deal with ID theft, it makes it incredibly difficult. This could also pose a security risk to the personnel or their familes, if the data falls into the wrong hands.

Social Security numbers and other personal information for as many as 2.2 million U.S. military personnel -- including nearly 80 percent of the active-duty force -- were among the data stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs analyst last month, federal officials said yesterday, raising concerns about national security as well as identity theft.

The department announced that personal data for as many as 1.1 million active-duty military personnel, 430,000 National Guard members and 645,000 reserve members may have been included on an electronic file stolen May 3 from a department employee's house in Aspen Hill. The data include names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, VA spokesman Matt Burns said.