Just in time for Memorial Day.
"Suit hits Pentagon over huge 2011 data breach" May 05, 2012|By Bryan Bender
WASHINGTON
- The bad news piled up quickly for Carol Keller late last year. She
was informed in December that her personal and medical information had
been stolen nearly four months earlier when a Pentagon contractor left
25 computer tapes in the back seat of a Honda Civic in Texas. That
explained the fraudulent purchases from her debit account, the Revere
woman contends.
Keller, who is married to a disabled Air Force
veteran and relies on the Pentagon-run health insurance program called
TRICARE, is among 70,000 military personnel, retirees, and their
families across New England who are grappling with the potential fallout
of one of the largest-ever breaches of medical data. Nationally, as
many as 4.7 million people may be vulnerable.
Keller
insists the theft and unauthorized purchases are related and has joined
nearly a dozen others in a class-action lawsuit seeking unspecified
damages. Frustrated lawmakers and privacy specialists say the case
spotlights what they contend is an ill-designed health system, in which
the Pentagon relies on contractors and outdated computer storage
technologies to house and transport personal information.
As a
result of the outdated system, they say, those who risk their lives for
the nation face undue risk of invasion of privacy and identity theft,
and national security could be compromised.
“The bottom line is
that people in charge of safeguarding our service members’ personal data
need to transition from the 20th century to the era of iPads,’’ said
Representative Edward J. Markey, who is demanding more answers from the
Pentagon on its medical privacy policies. “TRICARE had given me no
assurance that it is moving toward such a modern system.’’
Many of
the questions concerning standards and technology center on the
Pentagon’s use of contractor Science Applications International Corp.
The contractor alerted Keller to the September breach weeks later - in a
letter titled “urgent.’’
The use of who?
Related: Pity the Poor CIA
Defense contractor, huh?
According to the lawsuit filed in
federal court in Washington, one of three pending across the country,
the breach was the latest involving the contractor, which receives about
$20 billion a year in Pentagon contracts....
--more--"
Too busy looking at porn I guess.
Also see: 3.2m in Mass. have had data lost, stolen
It's not just the Pentagon, huh?
