You fucking dimwits.

[Squink]

@Chefguy

You absolutely stupid motherfuckers…

And now 10 days after the theft is reported, and a month after it happened, the VA discovers and reports that data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel was also on the purloined disk.

Ten days seem like an awful long time to wait before asking the analyst what he took home with him that night.

[Ink_a_dink_a_dink]

@PetW

I have a question that’s only semi-related. Isn’t it 15 points off your beacon score anytime anyone runs a credit report on you? By “free credit report” does it mean that it doesn’t cost any money, and there’s no beacon score penalty, or will running a credit check still harm your overall credit rating?

Having dealt with ID Theft for about six months now, your credit runs do not affect your credit balance at all. In fact, if you call and say you may be the victim of ID Theft, they will put a special alert on your file for all three bureaus, and all three will end you a copy of the most recent report so you can see if anything suspicious is going on.
Also, if you dispute any if the information, like past jobs, addresses past accounts or anything, they automatically send you a new copy of the report.

Me, I now have credit watch 3in1 which sends n alert any time there is a new account opened activity on any accounts, anything is sent to collections under my name, etc, so I can follow up first thing after I see it. It’s saved me $15,000 so far so the 29.95 or whatever was totally worth it.

Trust me - once a fucker gets your information, your life is shit for months, and everyone treats you like you’re the criminal not the victim. Expect to be on the phone a hell of a lot and faxing/sending copies of past bills, IDs, etc for wees and weeks on end. Mine’s been going since 11/02/05. DIRECTV won’t get it through their head that IT"S NOT MY FUCKING ACCOUNT - THE ACCOUNT IS IN WISCONSIN AND I AM IN CALIFORNIA AND HAVE BEEN AND I SENT YOU A LETTER TELLING YOU NOT TO OPEN ANY ACCOUNTS UNDER MY NAME AS I AM A VICTIM OF IDENTITY THEFT AND THEY DID ANYWAY.

Ahem. Sorry. I am a little bitter.

Anyway - best of luck…

Respect,

Inky

Oh http://www.econsumer.equifax.com/ this is where I get my 3-in-1 report from.

[PetW]

So if you’re, say, applying for a car loan, and someone runs a credit check on you, there’s no beacon score penalty? I was under the impression it drops it 15 points everytime somebody runs a credit check - that’s just an urban legend?

[Monty]

I believe that’s if you initiate the credit check, PetW. If it’s a “generic” check run by one of those outfits that wants to offer you and a billion other people a credit card out of the blue, there’s no problem.

[Ink_a_dink_a_dink]

@Monty

I believe that’s if you initiate the credit check, PetW. If it’s a “generic” check run by one of those outfits that wants to offer you and a billion other people a credit card out of the blue, there’s no problem.

That is correct. There are “Inquiries”, made by companies for the purposes of solicitation, and there are “Hard Inquiries”, the type run before an account is opened or what have you. Inquiries don’t rack points. Hard ones do. Not sure of the point amount, though.

Inky

[Squink]

@Squink

data on up to 50,000 active Navy and National Guard personnel

Ooops. It wasn’t 50,000, as the VA erroneously reported. Now they say it was 2.2 Million:
Data on 2.2M active troops stolen from VA

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said the agency was mistaken when it said over the weekend that up to 50,000 Navy and National Guard personnel — and no other active-duty personnel — were affected by the May 3 burglary.

In fact, names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of as many as 1.1 million active-duty personnel from all the armed forces — or 80 percent of all active-duty members — are believed to have been included, along with 430,000 members of the National Guard, and 645,000 members of the Reserves.

The remaining 20% undisclosed will probably turn up missing in a week or two.

[Diane]

@Squink

Ooops. It wasn’t 50,000, as the VA erroneously reported. Now they say it was 2.2 Million:
Data on 2.2M active troops stolen from VA The remaining 20% undisclosed will probably turn up missing in a week or two.

Knowing what information is in the stolen data base, I am actually surprised to learn that these records were not included in the original number. Since we do quite a bit of work with these active duty records (education, pre-separation program. . . .), it is common knowledge with most VA workers that this information is of record. Odd.

I don’t blame the veterans for being upset. What happened was very bad and potentially very harmful, however, some of the veterans groups are cutting off their noses to spite their face. I understand the need to make absolutely certain that another breach will never happen, but do they realize what it would mean if the courts temporarily suspend access of these records to authorized VA employee?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13174412/

"The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, demands that VA fully disclose who was affected by the theft, and asks a court to prohibit VA workers from using sensitive data until safeguards are in place."

There are currently thousands of veteran claims pending completion. These claims include elderly veterans in need of a pension, additional money to help pay for nursing home care, service connected disabled veterans whose disabilities have worsened, families of veterans applying for burial payments, survivors benefits, education, verification for VA home loans, and newly discharged Iraqi Freedom vets who have been injured, to name a couple of programs.

Without access to this information, the claims processing of these programs will stop dead in their tracks. The need for these claims will not stop or even slow down regardless of whether or not VA can process them. Once access to this information returns the backlog will be astronomical.

We won’t even be able to assist veterans who don’t have a claims pending but might need an income verification letter for their landlord or a property tax abatement or a civil service preference letter for a job application. None of this information will be accessible.

I can’t even begin to imagine the harm that will be done to veterans if this happens especially if it turns into a months and months long drawn out court process.

Have they lost their minds?

[Monty]

Well, I think the safeguards are in place. What happened is that someone didn’t follow those safeguards. The lawsuit is silly, IMHO.

[OtakuLoki]

@Monty

Well, I think the safeguards are in place. What happened is that someone didn’t follow those safeguards. The lawsuit is silly, IMHO.

I agree, completely.

[Fear_Itself]

This whole fiasco raises the possibility that at some point in the future, due to more security breaches, credit ratings will become useless when the number of compromised and exploited ID’s reaches a level that causes lenders, employers and others who depend on the accuracy of credit reports to turn down so many applicants that credit reports are no longer useful as a measure of their clients’ reliability. Could this have an impact on the economy as loans, mortgages, credit cards and background checks come to a screaching halt?

[Tuckerfan]

Equifax employees know your pain.

A laptop computer containing the names and Social Security numbers of all of Equifax’s 2,500 U.S. employees — from chief executive to janitor — was stolen from an employee in London in late May, the company said Tuesday.

It’s the sort of information that can lead to identity theft, one of the hot-button issues for credit bureaus such as Atlanta-based Equifax.

The employee was riding on a train when a thief took the laptop, Equifax spokesman David Rubinger said. The data were not encrypted, but Rubinger said names and numbers were stored in a jumble that would make it hard to know which numbers went with which employee.

“It would be very difficult to link this information and determine they were actual Social Security numbers in the first place,” he said.

There was no data about Equifax customers on the computer, Rubinger said.

[kevegan]

“We have no reason to believe at this time that the identity of these veterans have been compromised,” he said. “But we feel an obligation to alert veterans so that they can take the appropriate steps to protect this information.”

Anyone who cannot be trusted with English syntax and style should not be trusted with someone else’s money.

[Tuckerfan]

Now it’s the Department of Agriculture employees are members of the “club.”

A hacker broke into the Agriculture Department’s computer system and may have obtained names, Social Security numbers and photos of 26,000 Washington-area employees and contractors, the department said Wednesday.

Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said the department will provide free credit monitoring for one year to anyone who might have been affected.

The break-in happened during the first weekend in June, the department said. Technology staff learned of the breach on June 5 and told Johanns the following day but believed personal information was protected by security software, the department said.

However, on further analysis, staff concluded that data on current or former employees might have been accessed and informed Johanns on Wednesday, according to the department.

Is it just me, or is there suddenly a rash of these kinds of events?

[Skywatcher]

Stolen laptop with veterans’ data recovered

“A preliminary review of the equipment by computer forensic teams has determined that the data base remains intact and has not been accessed since it was stolen,” the agencies said in a statement. “A thorough forensic examination is under way, and the results will be shared as soon as possible.”

[Chefguy]

@Lute Skywatcher

Stolen laptop with veterans’ data recovered

Huzzah!