Laptop with veterans' data recovered

Laptop with veterans' data recovered​

Information wasn't accessed, FBI believes

By Christopher Lee and Zachary A. Goldfarb, Washington Post | June 30, 2006​

WASHINGTON -- Federal officials yesterday announced the recovery of computer equipment stolen from an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs. They said that sensitive personal information of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel apparently had not been accessed.

The laptop and external hard drive, stolen May 3 from a VA data analyst's home in Aspen Hill, Md., contained the names, birthdates, and Social Security numbers of millions of current and former service members. The theft was the largest information security breach in government history and raised fears of potential mass identity theft.

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson announced the recovery yesterday during a hearing of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs. “Law enforcement has in their possession the laptop and hard drive,” Nicholson said. “The serial numbers match. They are diligently conducting forensic analysis on it to see if they can tell whether its been duplicated or utilized or entered in any way, and that work is not complete. However, they did say to me that there is reason to be optimistic”... Read More Here.

 

Hopefully nothing leaked.....

 

Hopefully nothing leaked..... infoseeker

I'll bet what actually happened here was that whoever stole it was simply trying to make a quick buck; and then after the "big news" broke; the thief most likely totally panicked. If anyone actually got ‘caught’ with the laptop, copied information and/or 'secure' data within it or the laptop itself was destroyed; I’m sure those who were caught and then prosecuted would have been strung up by their gonads by the feds; what with this being the second largest data theft in US history - at least that we all KNOW about, anyway.

The feds do not play nice with thieves who remove, destroy or steal US federal government related property for whatever reason but especially when the theft makes the feds appear to be inept (security-wise) or stupid.

For example did you know that the US actually legally “owns” your mail until you retrieve it from your mailbox? You own the actual mailbox but the federal government owns the mail until the intended receiver’s hand touches it. Federal laws include prohibitions against stealing mail from a mailbox and destroying mail. Under the federal law, conviction for mail theft is subject to a fine and up to five years in prison, while destruction of mail can lead to a fine and up to three years in prison. Up to three to five years!

Just imagine what the fate of the Five Finger Discount Veteran's Mega-Data Laptop Thief might be!

Good Luck!

 

is there really possible that you can copy a hdd that US Federal will not find out?

 

> is there really possible that you can copy a hdd that US Federal will not find out? infoseeker <

Oh sure, if the thief didn't tell anyone else or post the information anywhere on the web or something like that; how exactly would the feds possibly find out? I mean it's not like the federal employees' company laptops are somehow "LoJack" protected when a hard drive is copied. <lol>

I mean, look at the situation with that wacko who mailed out all of those handwritten Anthrax letters to numerous different parties in different states and all the feds could come up with was "rounding up the usual suspects" (i.e. somewhat conveniently labeled 'persons of interest')

Also related: How about that crazy reclusive Unabomber (UNiversity+Airline+BOMber) knucklehead? I mean this guy mailed freggin’ bombs in hand made packages and even hand delivered a few of these packages by himself, as well as through the mail and sent via the cargo hold of an American Airlines plane.

He also sent these deadly deliveries to numerous entirely unrelated people in a number of different states and jurisdictions for almost two decades (from late May 1978 until federal officers were sent to arrest Kaczynski on April of 1996) from his remote cabin and the feds were clueless as to who that guy was; until his brother turned him in. He justified his crimes as a somewhat ridiculous "fight against the evils of technological progress" and was the target of the most expensive and perhaps longest lasting manhunt in the FBI's history.

Good Luck

 

Thanks, Compuable, this is great news!

 

Already got my letter from the VA in the mail about it...

 

well got the letter too, but will they now send out a new letter, worded every thing is OK......wobbles

 

this getting worse
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/07/what_happened_t.html

Both the laptop and hard drive ended up for sale at a black market just north of Washington D.C., near a subway station outside the Beltway near Wheaton. We’re talking about the kind of market that is literally run out of the back of a truck, one official said. Fortunately, a buyer purchased both components at this black market, keeping the missing hardware together.........

 

Wonder whats gonna happen to the employee who had this laptop when it was stolen....he did bear the responsibility of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel in his hands and to lose it like this...

 

I to like several others recieved the letter from the VA, Very disappointed that our information is not handled better then this, those of us that frequent here and other places simular to this know what can happen with poorly guarded information on a harddrive, and why do I have the feeling that their protection software isn't half of what any of ours is. I have had a couple of interesting e-mails with personal information in there that should not have been, is this over? I really doubt it, but as was mentioned earlier I think that when news of this broke someone realized what they had and just left it, but we have no way of knowing what happened to it in the time in between, any of us that has been connected with any part of the government are well aware that the time this laptop vanished until it was reported to the media could have been forever! Whats forever in computer terms? You tell me how long does it take to download a file with 26.5 million names on it, yes its a large text file, but is it bigger then Windows Vista beta 2 to download. No I am sorry just because they got the laptop back really doesn't make me feel any better about the whole mess, and congress should be all over this as if gas had gone up another penny! We deserve better then this, we did what we had to do, now they must do what they have to do!

 

Well after this much time I had to come back and check and see about a couple things. Is it just me or are any others all the sudden getting a ton of crap e-mails offering to sell you VA loan real estate? For awhile I was getting like 5 a day all wanting me to use my VA benefits to buy a home. I never got any before this laptop mess. Now that I blocked most of the senders for that mess I am getting e-mails, once again about 5 a day wanting to refi my real estate... Anyone else getting strange stuff related to your VA?
Wonder what else was in that laptop??

 

I have gotten alot, but I thought it might have been from regestering w/Veterans.com. (The Veteran's Newsletter site) I also get a lot of 'go back to school' mail

 

See I didn't register with anyone and I am getting a ton of it.