Fergie's Tech Blog

Veterans' Info Kept in Employee's Home for Three Years

An AP newswire article, via CNN, reports that:

The Veterans Affairs data analyst who lost the personal data of 26.5 million veterans improperly took the information home for three years before the data was stolen, government investigators told Congress Thursday.

In a pair of hearings, VA Inspector General George Opfer detailed a series of missteps leading to one of the nation's largest information security breaches. He noted that his office only became aware of the May 3 burglary through office gossip.

"We were never notified," Opfer told Senate and House panels investigating the breach, explaining that one of his employees first heard about a burglary -- and that VA electronic records may have been stolen -- while attending a routine meeting on May 10.

"It wasn't until we interviewed the employee on the 15th that we knew we had a significant problem" involving a vast cache of Social Security numbers, birthdates and disability ratings, Opfer said. Only then did the VA bring in local and federal law enforcement to investigate.

posted by Fergie @ 5/25/2006 02:01:00 PM