The US Department of Veterans Affairs has lost another
PC, this time containing a more modest database of personal details
on 38,000 veterans.
Earlier this year, the VA department lost a laptop containing
the personal details of 26.5 million veterans and active service
personnel, in a scandal that apparently left those forces personnel
at the mercy of identity thieves.
That laptop was later found, with the FBI proclaiming that the
data was apparently untouched and not used by identity thieves.
The latest loss to afflict the VA department follows the
disappearance of a desktop PC used by subcontractor Unisys at the
company's Reston, Virginia offices.
The machine was used to manage insurance collections for VA
medical centres in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
The VA department was informed of the disappearance of the
machine by Unisys, but so far both organisations have failed to
discover what has happened to it.
Those affected by the loss have been informed and offered credit
checking facilities to help them counter any identity theft
threat.
The FBI is now investigating the machine’s disappearance.
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