US Veterans' Administration answer to data theft is clueless

ON MAY 3RD a man, or men, entered the home of a bureaucrat for the Veterans Administration in his Maryland home. Amongst the goodies they made off with was a computer. On this computer was the personal information (Social security numbers, Date of Birth, and any disability information) of over 26 million veterans, including 2.2 million active duty personnel.

This information was stored at the bureaucrat's home supposedly so that this busy beaver could work at home, in violation of any number of security regulations.

After spending two weeks before notifying the media of the theft, possibly to formulate a spin control plan, the Vets Administration stated that all of the affected veterans would be notified if their information had been stolen.

Your bending author found this of personal interest, namely because he is a U.S. veteran. My mailbox has been viewed with a wary eye, as I expected to see a letter. Well no more, I received said correspondence yesterday, and read it with interest. It stated the facts in much less detail than was found in the media, and went on to apologise.

Most importantly it did not state whether or not my information had been stolen. The words they used were "Potentially exposed."

Okay, well on to what I should do, and what they are going to do for me?

On a second page was an FAQ dealing with the details of the issue. Their suggestions? Monitor my accounts, and then they thoughtfully provided the contact information for the regular credit bureaus to monitor any creation of fraudulent accounts. If suspicious activity is found, their recommendation is to contact local police.

This letter was sent out with the assistance of the Infernal revenue service. µ