What the Hell.. Complete VA database in some guy's HOUSE?


In the biggest idiocy of many involving federal bureaucracy, some VA 'data analyst' took home a full copy of a Veteran database to work on a project. His house was burgled.. and, yep, one of the things burglars go for first is the computer.

This means ALL of some 26 million veterans are now in risk of identity theft.

This guy should not only be fired, he and his supervisor should be brought up on charges of criminal negligence.

For some of you who dont understand the seriousness of this, this is the largest personal information security breach.. EVER!! At least that we know of.

If the burglars were pro's and not just opportunists... then they will know what they have is worth close to a million bucks in value. And there will be few traces of their comings and goings... unlike a hacking-into situation.

If the burglars are stupid, they WONT ditch all the loot, they'll try to sell it and may be caught... but if the other stuff all lands in a river after they copy the info onto a DVD, lots of folks are in for a rough time with their finances for YEARS.

I worked with test databases that were lot less valuable, but I ALWAYS did something that made them inert, such as scrambling the related data... and that is relatively easy to do.

Sometimes I wish I had gone through a pre-frontal lobotomy and worked as a Guvmint Emplodee!