And The Vets Pay The Ultimate Price...Again.
When will our Social Security Numbers be secure? I can’t figure out how it is that something that’s supposed to guarantee our future financial security is somehow being used to sabotage our present financial security. When a middle-management employee of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs took his work home with him on a lap top computer a few weeks ago, little did anyone know that in a few hours the financial security of over 26 million veterans who’d served between 1975 and now, would be lost forever. Apparently, this yokel didn’t take into account that his neighborhood had been experiencing a string of burglaries in the previous few weeks, and that something as supposedly innocuous as a lap top sitting unsecured and all alone would offer the thieves a limitless future in financial futures.
Wha Hoppa? Well, it seems that when the yokel discovered his boo-boo, he reported it to his superiors, and then things get a bit fuzzy. Apparently the VA decided that they, with all of their experience in catching malingerers, would be able to find and re-secure the lap top with all the goodies inside of it, and that alerting the real law enforcement people of the government, like the FBI, wasn’t necessary. Besides, if they alerted the FBI, who knows how long it would’ve taken before the news was leaked to the media and the thieves would then know what they had actually stolen, and then use the information to finance their own futures. The VA took over two weeks to decide that maybe catching crooks wasn’t their forte, and alerted the FBI, which then promptly alerted the media, which in turn told the crooks just what they had stolen. Now, of course, the burglars weren’t exactly looking for all those social security numbers when they broke into the yokel’s house. They just wanted some stuff to sell to finance their immediate futures.
So, where does the buck stop here? Who’s going to take the wrap for allowing this screw up to happen? Is the yokel high up enough to take the fall? Very doubtful. Is his immediate boss? Again, doubtful. What about the Secretary? Too high up. Then there’s the FBI, who may have created a bigger boo-boo by letting the world know just what was on that lap top. I know, the vets need to know if their info has been compromised so they can take measures to re-secure it. But that could’ve been done in other ways, like the mass mailing they’re planning. In the meantime, these crooks are probably going back to the guy they sold the lap top to and trying to buy it back or at least find out who has it, if the fence hasn’t already found the buyer and secured it for himself. And that’s not taking into account that probably everyone who’s bought a lap top from a fence in the last few weeks is going over its hard drive with a fine toothed comb.
Happens all the time… This is just another in a string of goof ups that’ve happened lately by big corporations and governmental agencies that supposedly have big security contracts, that are supposedly large and in charge of their information in order to keep it from falling into the hands of their competitors. So why is it that hackers and burglars are able to get their hands on this sacred information? Because, apparently the only people who really care whether or not this info gets into the wrong hands are the ones that info belongs to. Why should some corporate CEO care if the info his company is in charge of lets it get stolen? Is he going to jail? Is he going to lose his job? It’s always the little guy who takes the fall. Whether it be having to constantly check his credit report for fraud, or just being the guy who didn’t know that the info had been stolen at all, and now, after being turned down for a home improvement loan, has to explain to the credit reporting bureaus that he didn’t really go on a 6 month cruise around the world on his Visa card.
An act of Congress. Yeah, now Congress is getting into the act with calls for heads to roll and all that jazz. Is that going to solve the problem? Is there going to be a nationwide manhunt for the thieves? I can see W now, looking into each hole on the golf course trying to find them. I know he’ll do his part. There will have to be a law made! That’s what Congress is good at. It won’t stop this from happening again, but at least when it does, they’ll be able to throw some mid-level management type in jail for a few years, and the world will keep on spinning.
Wha Hoppa? Well, it seems that when the yokel discovered his boo-boo, he reported it to his superiors, and then things get a bit fuzzy. Apparently the VA decided that they, with all of their experience in catching malingerers, would be able to find and re-secure the lap top with all the goodies inside of it, and that alerting the real law enforcement people of the government, like the FBI, wasn’t necessary. Besides, if they alerted the FBI, who knows how long it would’ve taken before the news was leaked to the media and the thieves would then know what they had actually stolen, and then use the information to finance their own futures. The VA took over two weeks to decide that maybe catching crooks wasn’t their forte, and alerted the FBI, which then promptly alerted the media, which in turn told the crooks just what they had stolen. Now, of course, the burglars weren’t exactly looking for all those social security numbers when they broke into the yokel’s house. They just wanted some stuff to sell to finance their immediate futures.
So, where does the buck stop here? Who’s going to take the wrap for allowing this screw up to happen? Is the yokel high up enough to take the fall? Very doubtful. Is his immediate boss? Again, doubtful. What about the Secretary? Too high up. Then there’s the FBI, who may have created a bigger boo-boo by letting the world know just what was on that lap top. I know, the vets need to know if their info has been compromised so they can take measures to re-secure it. But that could’ve been done in other ways, like the mass mailing they’re planning. In the meantime, these crooks are probably going back to the guy they sold the lap top to and trying to buy it back or at least find out who has it, if the fence hasn’t already found the buyer and secured it for himself. And that’s not taking into account that probably everyone who’s bought a lap top from a fence in the last few weeks is going over its hard drive with a fine toothed comb.
Happens all the time… This is just another in a string of goof ups that’ve happened lately by big corporations and governmental agencies that supposedly have big security contracts, that are supposedly large and in charge of their information in order to keep it from falling into the hands of their competitors. So why is it that hackers and burglars are able to get their hands on this sacred information? Because, apparently the only people who really care whether or not this info gets into the wrong hands are the ones that info belongs to. Why should some corporate CEO care if the info his company is in charge of lets it get stolen? Is he going to jail? Is he going to lose his job? It’s always the little guy who takes the fall. Whether it be having to constantly check his credit report for fraud, or just being the guy who didn’t know that the info had been stolen at all, and now, after being turned down for a home improvement loan, has to explain to the credit reporting bureaus that he didn’t really go on a 6 month cruise around the world on his Visa card.
An act of Congress. Yeah, now Congress is getting into the act with calls for heads to roll and all that jazz. Is that going to solve the problem? Is there going to be a nationwide manhunt for the thieves? I can see W now, looking into each hole on the golf course trying to find them. I know he’ll do his part. There will have to be a law made! That’s what Congress is good at. It won’t stop this from happening again, but at least when it does, they’ll be able to throw some mid-level management type in jail for a few years, and the world will keep on spinning.
posted by Bob at 9:55 PM
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