Read All About It
The USA Today devoted its lead editorial space on May 24 to a recent personal information security breach committed by an employee of the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.
That breach resulted from the theft of a computer from the home of a Veterans Affairs employee who had apparently brought the equipment home contrary to regulations and procedures. (The computer was later found.)
According to published reports, the computer contains the names, addresses and Social Security numbers of some 25 million armed forces veterans who have been discharged from the military over the past 30 years.
The breach—one of several within government agencies and private companies in the past two years—has the editorial board of the newspaper concerned and calling for scrutiny of the federal government.
"The episode is all the more reason to be skeptical when the government says ‘trust us’ on security and privacy matters, such as with the National Security Agency’s secret collection of phone records of millions of Americans," the editorial states.
The opinion piece closes by declaring, "It’s hard to take seriously government warnings about how to prevent ID theft when the government itself is so lax about protecting sensitive data."
Close to Home
Atlanta-based credit bureau Equifax Inc., itself entrusted as a collector and distributor of confidential information, may soon be dealing with the effects of being a victim of identity theft.
According to an AP report, an employee’s laptop computer containing Equifax employees’ names and Social Security numbers has been stolen from an employee traveling in the United Kingdom.
Information for as many as 2,500 of the company’s more than 4,000 employees may have been obtained.
A spokesperson for Equifax has said notifications went out to the affected employees. Additionally, the spokesperson expressed optimism that the information was streamed in such a way that a thief may not be able to make use of it.
Nevertheless, the company has provided the affected employees access to its credit monitoring service and has encouraged them to put a fraud alert on their credit files, according to the AP report.
The Equifax incident follows two other notable laptop computer thefts in recent weeks, one affecting District of Columbia employees and the other affecting armed forces veterans. Additionally, a set of paper documents containing personal information of Department of Energy employees was found in a home in the state of Washington.
Alliance Targets ID Theft
An alliance of businesses, colleges and government law enforcement agencies has announced that it will establish a new research center in Utica, N.Y., that will study issues relating to identity theft and fraud.
Founding partners for the Center for Identity Management and Information Protection (CIMIP) include LexisNexis, IBM, the U.S. Secret Service and the FBI. Participating schools include Carnegie Mellon University, Indiana University and Syracuse University.
The center will be based at Utica College in New York. Research will focus on issues in identity management, information sharing and data protection, including:
• The causes, early detection and prevention of ID theft and fraud;
• The improvement of identity authentication systems to reduce fraud and improper payments;
• The threat from cyber criminals and organized crime; and
• The role of technology in protecting information, ensuring privacy and sharing information.
Headed by Dr. Gary R. Gordon, a professor at Utica College and an expert in cyber crime and identity fraud, the center will provide identity management and information protection resources to corporations, law enforcement and government agencies, academic institutions and the public through its publications and seminars and at www.cimip.org.