Shostack + Friends Blog Archive

 

Maybe they can borrow a few million from the IRS

[T]he VA’s inspector general, George Opfer, said that the agency had been unable to formally notify the affected veterans because “we don’t have 26 million envelopes.”

via the Bradenton Herald
Now that the funny part is out of the way…

Asked the cost for preventing and covering potential losses from identity theft, [VA Secretary] Nicholson estimated “way north of $100 million” and did not rule out a total as high as $500 million.

I’m curious what is meant by “covering potential losses” here. It sounds like an effort fraught with peril, or at least imprecision, unless you just want to give an insurance policy to 26.5 million people, not caring whether their losses are due to this theft or some unrelated one.