Something US vets should be aware of.

[Ducimus]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12916803/
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/22/vets.data/index.html


What a joy.

[August]

Just lovely.

[jumpy]

And there was me expecting something about livestock health and US veterinarians :o
bleargh... I've got another four days of this kind of thing until the weekend :damn: :zzz:
Still at least they were a victim of theft rather than careless incompetence... like some of our police/politicians 'loosing' laptops with highly confidential data an them.

[The Avon Lady]

Will this mean that US vets will be telemarketed to death for the rest of their lives? :o

[Sailor Steve]

If telemarketing is the worst fear, I'll look forward to their calls.

As far as SS numbers, they're out there for anyone to find. Not much can be done about it these days.

[Ducimus]

Will this mean that US vets will be telemarketed to death for the rest of their lives? :o

Identiy theft. Maybe i flatter myself but i would think a veteran's identy is a great target and desirable to obtain. We have bennfits and such. A name, social, and birthdate is all you need to royally **** someone over and take them for all their worth.

[sonar732]

The sad part about this is what is the "middle level" guy doing taking them home in the first place.

My take in this is that he will go under strict investigation because it's too ironic that a bunch of thugs happened to rob him.

"was stolen from a mid-level employee's home in what appeared to be a routine burglary."

[Ducimus]

Yeah, operative word there being, "appeared" to be.

That means theres doubt, and they're still looking into it.

[Ducimus]

The computer disk contained the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of every living veteran from 1975 to the present, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Monday.

Source: Theft of vets' data kept secret for 19 days
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/23/vets.data/index.html

[tycho102]

Oh, hell. Why did the guy have every vet's record on his laptop. That database must've been 200GB, only including contact information and the dates of any VA contact (MGIB, home guarantee, medical) since leaving active. Why did he need *all* of them?

Hello? Compartmentalized information? Restricted? Classified?



This identity theft sh*t is really starting to piss me off. And the Congress doesn't seem to care too much about it. I am about ready to just start voting out incumbents and let God sort them all out...

[Ducimus]

How do you carry 26 million identities with you?
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/05/how_do_you_carr.html

What should vets do now? A checklist
With 26 million SSNs lost, steps veterans should take to protect themselves
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12940308

[Ishmael]

How to prevent identity theft.

Have crappy credit. Preferably worse than any identity thief. That way, any thief has to pay YOUR bills.