From: lyger (lygerattrition.org)
Date: Fri Oct 02 2009 - 09:13:10 CDT

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http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/probe-targets-archives-handling-of-data-on-70-million-vets/

The inspector general of the National Archives and Records Administration
is investigating a potential data breach affecting tens of millions of
records about U.S. military veterans, Wired.com has learned. The issue
involves a defective hard drive the agency sent back to its vendor for
repair and recycling without first destroying the data.

The hard drive helped power eVetRecs, the system veterans use to request
copies of their health records and discharge papers. When the drive failed
in November of last year, the agency returned the drive to GMRI, the
contractor that sold it to them, for repair. GMRI determined it couldn.t
be fixed, and ultimately passed it to another firm to be recycled.

The incident was reported to NARA's inspector general by Hank Bellomy, a
NARA IT manager, who charges that the move put 70 million veterans at risk
of identity theft, and that NARA's practice of returning hard drives
unsanitized was symptomatic of an irresponsible security mindset
unbecoming to America's record-keeping agency.

[...]
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