Veteran data loss
The recent 26 million records of veterans and even active duty personell that were lost by the Veteran's Administration indicate a potential greater laxity in the federal bureaucracy. We at the ID Theft Working Group at Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA estimate that 28% or more of all federal government agencies have inadequate IT security for their critical sutomer information. This suggests that Congress must enact much more aggressive legislation to secure data and punish criminals who abuse data to which they are not entitled.
posted by Professor Steffen Schmidt @ 9:58 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I agree that the US government needs to take action but when the heck do we stop depending on the government and start demanding corporations do something. I call for an all out boycott of e-commerce until corporation become more responsible.
lost identity in Boston
In the past 16 months, nearly 85 million people in the United States alone have had their identity compromised as a result of database breaches. The recent Veteran’s Administration breach of 26.5 million caught the attention of the public to finally realize the vulnerability of one’s identity. The consistent rise of database breaches put all Americans at HIGH risk for identity theft.
Speaking of vulnerable…Do you think the public knows how vulnerable computer systems and security protocols really are within Corporate America and the Federal Government? One would think that they would be way ahead of the game instead of vulnerable, as reflected by the database breaches. Unfortunately, banks, credit unions, universities, data aggregators, and retailers nationwide are victims. Some of them, even multiple times.
You can find the national list of data breaches at www.privacyrights.org. The growing epidemic of identity theft and the trend of database breaches are causing giant waves of security changes and identity theft and privacy laws to which businesses must comply.
For example, FACTA requires the business owner/corporation to protect personal data of its customers, employers, and vendors. If not, and identity theft reflects negligence or non-compliance by a particular business source, then there are serious federal and state consequences that could ultimately bankrupt or shut down that offender. These laws can be reviewed at www.ftc.gov.
The sad thing is that sophisticated high tech thieves, crime rings, and terrorists have created an industry out of identity theft because their Internet or organized crime activities produce a low risk of being caught, with high volume results.
Surprisingly, since identity theft has become a major public issue and threat, some people are scrambling for protection, some say out of ignorance “Let them take my identity, there is nothing to steal.”, some are taking the wait and see approach, some are completely oblivious to the issue, and others related to this blog site and like myself are reaching out to educate and warn whoever will listen.
Lois Hale
Here in Wash. DC where I live ID theft hardly makes a ripple in Congress! Maybe the problem is so huge it's easier to talk about the crisis in Iraq than this can of worms.
Leonora
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