The people dedicated to protecting you, yeah that's right, the FBI, may be easier to steal from than WalMart. Well, maybe not the FBI, but certainly many government agencies are. Take the Veterans Administration, for instance...
The FBI has offered a $25,000 reward for the return of a computer backup hard drive that was found missing from a VA office in Birmingham Alabama in January. Turns out the hard drive wasn't even encrypted and it contains information on 1.8 million patients and physicians nationwide, including social security numbers, names, billing codes, etc. With a red face, the VA admits that the hard drive wsa supposed to have been encrypted but it wasn't. The bozo who was reportedly responsible was put on "leave" and within a few weeks of the January 22nd disappearance the VA gave up looking for the hard drive. No one is talking about why it took them so long to notify the public of this royal foul up.
The whole mess reminds me of the VA computer with 26 million records in it that disappeared in 2006 and turned up months later after a $50,000 reward was posted.
Meanwhile identity theft continues its rise to the top of the heap of criminal activity in the US. The FTC reported that more than 670,000 cases of fraud and identity theft were reported by consumers in 2006. The total damage is estimated at $1.2 Billion. And it's no wonder, after you look at how lousy a job our own government is at protecting the private data it keeps on all of us.
For tips of preventing identity theft, and help if it's happened to you, check out our web site page, Identity Theft is Fraud.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Known nationwide as a leading Lemon Law attorney, Ronald L. Burdge has represented literally thousands of consumers in "lemon" lawsuits and actively co-counsels and coaches other Consumer Law attorneys. From 2005 through 2018, attorney Ronald L. Burdge has been named as the only Lemon Law Ohio Super Lawyer by Law and Politics magazine and Thomson Reuters Corp., Professional Division. Burdge restricts his practice to Lemon Law and Consumer Law cases. The Ohio Super Lawyer results are published annually in the January issue of Cincinnati Magazine. Ronald L. Burdge was named Consumer Law Trial Lawyer of the Year 2004 by the National Association of Consumer Advocates, the nation's largest organization of consumer law private and government attorneys. "Your impact on the auto industry has been magnified many times over because of the trail you blazed for others," stated NACA's Executive Director, Will Ogburn. Burdge has represented thousands of consumers in Ohio, Kentucky and elsewhere since 1978 and is a frequent lecturer to national, state and local Bar Associations and Judicial organizations. Burdge is admitted to Ohio's state and federal courts, Kentucky's state courts, and Indiana's federal courts. Other court admissions are on a "pro hac" temporary, case by cases basis.