Personal Data of 26.5M Veterans Stolen

**mercian billman** · 05-25-2006, 05:08

This is probably the only time I'll ever say it, but I'm glad that I don't recieve my discharge until 2010

Approximately 1400 days left

Anyways it would be kind of funny if he didn't know he had until Authorities released the loss of the disk

Seriously though this is an example of gross incompetence, not to mention the idiot who brought that disk to his house was breaking the law in the process of doing so.

**Major Robert Dump** · 05-25-2006, 10:43

Maybe he was an immigrant doing a job Americans don't want, and he didn't know the rules.

**drone** · 08-07-2006, 17:46

Looks like they got the criminal masterminds, I mean teenagers...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/05/lap....ap/index.html

Originally Posted by CNN/AP

The VA announced last month that the FBI has determined with a high degree of confidence that the files were not compromised.

"While this arrest is good news, we were lucky that the data belonging to veterans was not accessed and misused," Steve Buyer, chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

**Blodrast** · 08-08-2006, 01:19

I guess that's good, although you'll allow me to be the skeptical grumpy bastard I usually am, and doubt this:

the FBI has determined with a high degree of confidence that the files were not compromised.

Did they establish that by interrogating the teenagers ? Did they establish that through technical tests ? What kind of tests ? What does "a high degree of confidence" mean exactly, it's vague as hell !
Would anyone actually expect them to say "Yeah, the data has been spread all over the internet, it sucks" ?

**Papewaio** · 08-08-2006, 03:34

If it was spread over the internet someone would have googled it by now.

If it is being held by someone then they won't get much value from it unless they sell it.

If they do then it will come under receiving stolen goods I suppose... and since it would have to cross state lines and use federal infrastructure methinks it would get some sort of wire fraud... I assume a federal offense to traffic in the information.

So it would have to go to a single company that can use the information in such a manner that it cannot be proved... such that it would be used as a verifying tool... which they have cheaper and more reliable methods of doing such.

**Alexanderofmacedon** · 08-08-2006, 04:23

Wow, I don't frequent these forums as much as I used to and I come back this week to find my very old thread revived with some great info.

Thanks drone.

**Blodrast** · 08-08-2006, 08:44

Pape, I didn't literally mean "spread over the internet". I meant copied, backed up, sold to someone/more someones, etc. Any of these.
I know that if I'd got that, I'd _definitely_ keep a few copies.

And as for the data not being used "because it would be detected" or some such, puh-leaze... Are you trying to say that identity thefts are inexistant because they are "detectable" or traceable ?

Who knows if it's been used or not ? Did they run a check to make sure that absolutely none of the 26.5M old folks had their identity stolen since the data was compromised ? I don't think so - if for no other reason that the FBI would have bragged about it if they'd done it.