Complain about a product or service

Investigators Kept VA Data Theft Secret for Three Weeks

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 23, 2006

Data Theft • 68,000 CalOptima Members at Risk in Data Breach • Express Scripts Extortion Scheme Widens • Technology Could Be Key To Stopping Unauthorized Charges • T-Mobile: No Hacking in Data Breach • T-Mobile Confirms Data Breach • Consumers Increasingly Concerned About Online Transactions • Are Identity Theft Services Worth the Cost? • Online Tools Help Spot Financial Fraud • Financial Fraud Hits 7.5 Percent Of Americans In 2008 • Feds Charge Mortgage Broker In Potential Data Breach • Millions of Credit Cards Exposed in Data Breach • 2008 Data Breach Total Soars • Bank Data Breach Threatens 248,000 in North Carolina • GPS Not Foolproof • Countrywide Warns Millions of Data Breach • Thieves Steal AT&T Laptop with Employee Data • Report: Data Breach Disclosure Laws Don't Affect Identity Theft • Patient Information Exposed in Data Breach at Walter Reed • Supermarket Chain Reports Data Breach • Report: Feds Still Not Doing Enough To Secure Data • Data Thieves Hit Georgetown University Students, Faculty • 800,000 Job Seekers At Risk In Gap Data Breach • TJX Data Breach Settlement Has Strings Attached • More ...

In a failed effort to catch the people who stole 26 million veterans' private and personal information, authorities waited almost three weeks before telling anyone about the theft.

The personal data fell into the hands of thieves May 3 after a burglary in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Federal investigators are characterizing the theft as a random act and not a targeted effort to steal information about the nation's veterans.

The information was on a laptop and external drive stolen from the home of a Department of Veterans Affairs computer analyst.

The government did not immediately announce the theft because officials had hoped to catch the burglars and did not want to tip them off about the value of the information they had stolen out of concern that they might then sell the computer information.

Investigators have now abandoned that strategy and have alerted the public and the millions of veterans whose personal information was stolen.

The computer disk contained the names, Social Security numbers and birth dates of every living veteran from 1975 to the present. The missing data do not include health records or financial information, according to the VA.

The information would be extremely valuable to identity thieves operating Internet sites around the world where personal information is bought and sold.

The VA sent a letter to veterans informing them of the stolen data. Anyone with questions can contact the agency at (800) 333-4636 or through the federal government's Web portal, www.firstgov.gov.

Report Your Experience
If you've had a bad experience -- or a good one -- with a consumer product or service, we'd like to hear about it. All complaints are reviewed by class action attorneys and are considered for publication on our site. Knowledge is power! Help spread the word. File your consumer report now.

Share		Follow us on Twitter.

Back to the top |