Personal Data on 26,500,000 Veterans Stolen (Including SSNs)
Personal data, including Social Security numbers of 26.5 million U.S. veterans, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month after he took the information home without authorization, the department said Monday.
The material represents personal data of all living veterans who served and have been discharged since 1976, according to the department. The information was included the veterans’ discharge summary that goes into a government database.
From the New York Times AP story.
[Update: Bob Sullivan has some good analysis at “Vets deserve better treatment after data theft.“ - link to http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/05/vets_deserve_be.html no longer works]