After the theft of personal information of 26.5 million veterans, new absurd details - first kept secret - on the scope of one of the US's largest security breaches have surfaced. Much more private information was stolen, the VA administration was forced to admit.
SECURITY AND CONFIDENTALITY ARE ALWAYS 100%!?
FPF + Associated Propaganda (AP)
Amsterdam/Brussels - June 2nd 2006 - "Your safety and security concerning the (extorted) information is perfect: don't worry!" - Isn't that what they always say? Of course it's a huge lie. Apart from the biggest data-mining via Craig- etc. computers in the US and England, the biggest information gathering on all European Union inhabitants is done by - what is referred to as - 'The BEAST in Brussels'.*
A global diversion campaign by the multinational profiteers has been tried - by those who use the profitable 'human intelligence' (HUMINT) - to diffuse the information concerning the existence of super-computers* in the world: among other things by pointing towards Satanism, Conspiracy, Illuminati or UFOs.* - [
http://tinyurl.com/e9vbd]
But just remember: Knowledge is Power, and Power is Profit!
THE GOLDEN RULE FOR THE USURERS IS: IF IT IS TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE AND PROFITABLE, IT WILL BE DONE. WHATEVER IT IS, AND AT WHATEVER COST IN (OTHERS) LIVES OR WELL BEING.
There is a pro forma warning by some minions of the US/PNAC* managers who point out: ''Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. While you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim, there are steps you can take to minimize your risk.''*
To take an example of the trade: In the United States Identity theft complaints represented 37 percent of the 686,683 complaints filed last year. Other top categories of fraud complaints for 2005 include:
* Internet Auctions - 12 percent
* Foreign Money Offers - 8 percent
* Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales - 8 percent
* Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries - 7 percent
* Internet Services and Computer Complaints - 5 percent
* Business Opportunities and Work-at-Home plans - 2 percent
* Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection - 2 percent
* Telephone Services - 2 percent
* Other - 17 percent
If you are lucky enough to still wonder what can be done to you and your life, when 'they' so decide: have a look at this Google selection on 'Identity Theft' - showing how you and all gathered information about you has been and is sold to whomever thinks a profit can be made. - Google Url.: http://tinyurl.com/j5yvm
Via the absolutely not to be trusted PNAC information bureau AP (Associated Propaganda*) - sales woman 'Hope Yen' offers the following information, that after the May 3 burglary, new absurd details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches have surfaced. Much more private information than at first was kept secret was stolen, which the VA administration was later forced to acknowledge.
Quote: "Personal information on 26.5 million veterans that was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month not only included Social Security numbers and birth dates but in many cases phone numbers and addresses, internal documents show.
Meanwhile, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Wednesday that he had named a former Arizona prosecutor as a special adviser for information security, a new three-month post that will pinpoint security problems at the VA and develop recommendations for improvements.
The three pages of memos by the VA, written by privacy officer Mark Whitney and distributed to high-level officials shortly after the May 3 burglary, offer new details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches. The memos were obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.
They show that a file containing 6,744 records pertaining to "mustard gas veterans" - or those who participated in chemical testing programs during World War II - was breached, and that a "short file" with as many as 10 diagnostic codes indicating a veteran's disability also was stolen.
At the same time, however, the memos suggest that the data might be difficult to retrieve by thieves. (FPF: ?)
"Given the file format used to store the data, the data may not be easily accessible," stated one memo dated May 5 and distributed internally May 8.
On Wednesday, the VA did not say why it didn't immediately reveal that personal information such as addresses and phone numbers had been disclosed. But the agency said it aggressively sought to protect veterans once Nicholson was informed.
"VA's initial and primary efforts have focused on notifying the millions of veterans and some spouses whose most sensitive and identifiable information - their names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and some disability ratings - may have been compromised," spokesman Matt Burns said.
Some lawmakers said Wednesday they were troubled by the new revelations, which go further than what the VA initially reported after publicizing the theft on May 22. At the time, Nicholson said the data was limited to names, Social Security numbers and birthdates; he later indicated that diagnostic codes in some cases also may have been breached.
"It is not appropriate for this information to ever enter the public domain," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, which is planning to hold several additional hearings on data security and veterans' benefits later this summer.
Veterans groups have criticized the VA for a three-week delay in publicizing the burglary after the theft at a VA data analyst's Maryland home. During hearings last week, Nicholson said he was "mad as hell" that employees did not notify him of the May 3 burglary until May 16.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VA needs to come clean about who exactly is at risk.
"WHAT'S SO UPSETTING AND FRUSTRATING IS THE LACK OF SPECIFIC DETAILS COMING FROM THE VA," HE SAID.
"We have millions of veterans looking to the VA for answers, including older veterans who may not have Internet access or fully comprehend what this means to them, and younger veterans who will now have to carry this dark cloud with them for the rest of their lives."
Separately, Nicholson said in a statement that he had appointed former Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley as his new adviser for information security. Nicholson cited a need for dramatic security changes in the wake of the burglary.
"Rick Romley is a well-respected attorney and veteran who will provide a critical outsider's perspective to VA," Nicholson said. "Rick shares my commitment to cutting through bureaucracy to provide results for our nation's veterans."
Romley, a Vietnam War veteran, prosecuted one of the largest public corruption cases in Arizona in the early 1990s and was seen as a potential GOP contender in that state's 2006 governor's race.
STEPPING DOWN BECAUSE OF THE THEFT
On Tuesday, VA deputy assistant secretary Michael McLendon said he was stepping down because of the theft, and the VA announced it would dismiss the data analyst, who had reported to McLendon.
The department also placed Dennis Duffy, the acting head of the division in which the data analyst worked, on administrative leave.
[enditem] - Associated Propaganda (AP) story in 'Capitol Hill Blue' (which - after founder and editor Doug Thompson was silenced - lost all thinking people's trust under the 'new owners') - Url.: http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8758.shtml
REFERENCES:
* HR is co-author/researcher of the book 'Techno-Bandits' on high-tech computer smuggling. [Houghton Mifflin - 1984] - Url.: http://www.amahoro.nl/linda/bookt-b.htm
* Info for veterans suspecting identity theft - Url.: http://www.firstgov.gov
* US: Total "Terrorism" Information Awareness (TIA) - Url.: http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/
* Identity Card Security: technical explanation - Url.: http://eid.belgium.be/en/navigation/documents/36728.html
* US managers warning for Identity theft - Url.: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
* 'The Register' very well informed UK site - on ID theft - Url.: http://forms.theregister.co.uk/search/?q=%22Identity+theft%22
* FPF - Google selection - Identity card misery - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/rldmr
* ChoicePoint Settles Data Security Breach Charges; to Pay $10 Million in Civil Penalties, $5 Million for Consumer Redress - Url.: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/01/choicepoint.htm
* European Union Opus project Research & Development - Url.: http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/M.Ali/dis/docs/research.html
* Supercomputers like the BEAST? - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/mfbyt
* US SKEPTICAL: ASSOCIATED PRESS DECIDES? - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/5zosu
* Consumers can test their knowledge about identity theft at - Url.: http://www.onguardonline.gov/quiz/
* FPF - OTHER US/PNAC RELATED LINKS - Url.: http://tinyurl.com/gkgrb
* FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.: http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html
FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/
Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q
The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl
-0-
FPF + Associated Propaganda (AP)
Amsterdam/Brussels - June 2nd 2006 - "Your safety and security concerning the (extorted) information is perfect: don't worry!" - Isn't that what they always say? Of course it's a huge lie. Apart from the biggest data-mining via Craig- etc. computers in the US and England, the biggest information gathering on all European Union inhabitants is done by - what is referred to as - 'The BEAST in Brussels'.*
A global diversion campaign by the multinational profiteers has been tried - by those who use the profitable 'human intelligence' (HUMINT) - to diffuse the information concerning the existence of super-computers* in the world: among other things by pointing towards Satanism, Conspiracy, Illuminati or UFOs.* - [
http://tinyurl.com/e9vbd] But just remember: Knowledge is Power, and Power is Profit!
THE GOLDEN RULE FOR THE USURERS IS: IF IT IS TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE AND PROFITABLE, IT WILL BE DONE. WHATEVER IT IS, AND AT WHATEVER COST IN (OTHERS) LIVES OR WELL BEING.
There is a pro forma warning by some minions of the US/PNAC* managers who point out: ''Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes. While you can't entirely control whether you will become a victim, there are steps you can take to minimize your risk.''*
To take an example of the trade: In the United States Identity theft complaints represented 37 percent of the 686,683 complaints filed last year. Other top categories of fraud complaints for 2005 include:
* Internet Auctions - 12 percent
* Foreign Money Offers - 8 percent
* Shop-at-Home/Catalog Sales - 8 percent
* Prizes/Sweepstakes and Lotteries - 7 percent
* Internet Services and Computer Complaints - 5 percent
* Business Opportunities and Work-at-Home plans - 2 percent
* Advance-Fee Loans and Credit Protection - 2 percent
* Telephone Services - 2 percent
* Other - 17 percent
If you are lucky enough to still wonder what can be done to you and your life, when 'they' so decide: have a look at this Google selection on 'Identity Theft' - showing how you and all gathered information about you has been and is sold to whomever thinks a profit can be made. - Google Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/j5yvm Via the absolutely not to be trusted PNAC information bureau AP (Associated Propaganda*) - sales woman 'Hope Yen' offers the following information, that after the May 3 burglary, new absurd details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches have surfaced. Much more private information than at first was kept secret was stolen, which the VA administration was later forced to acknowledge.
Quote: "Personal information on 26.5 million veterans that was stolen from a Veterans Affairs employee this month not only included Social Security numbers and birth dates but in many cases phone numbers and addresses, internal documents show.
Meanwhile, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said Wednesday that he had named a former Arizona prosecutor as a special adviser for information security, a new three-month post that will pinpoint security problems at the VA and develop recommendations for improvements.
The three pages of memos by the VA, written by privacy officer Mark Whitney and distributed to high-level officials shortly after the May 3 burglary, offer new details on the scope of one of the nation's largest security breaches. The memos were obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.
They show that a file containing 6,744 records pertaining to "mustard gas veterans" - or those who participated in chemical testing programs during World War II - was breached, and that a "short file" with as many as 10 diagnostic codes indicating a veteran's disability also was stolen.
At the same time, however, the memos suggest that the data might be difficult to retrieve by thieves. (FPF: ?)
"Given the file format used to store the data, the data may not be easily accessible," stated one memo dated May 5 and distributed internally May 8.
On Wednesday, the VA did not say why it didn't immediately reveal that personal information such as addresses and phone numbers had been disclosed. But the agency said it aggressively sought to protect veterans once Nicholson was informed.
"VA's initial and primary efforts have focused on notifying the millions of veterans and some spouses whose most sensitive and identifiable information - their names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and some disability ratings - may have been compromised," spokesman Matt Burns said.
Some lawmakers said Wednesday they were troubled by the new revelations, which go further than what the VA initially reported after publicizing the theft on May 22. At the time, Nicholson said the data was limited to names, Social Security numbers and birthdates; he later indicated that diagnostic codes in some cases also may have been breached.
"It is not appropriate for this information to ever enter the public domain," said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, which is planning to hold several additional hearings on data security and veterans' benefits later this summer.
Veterans groups have criticized the VA for a three-week delay in publicizing the burglary after the theft at a VA data analyst's Maryland home. During hearings last week, Nicholson said he was "mad as hell" that employees did not notify him of the May 3 burglary until May 16.
Joe Davis, a spokesman for Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the VA needs to come clean about who exactly is at risk.
"WHAT'S SO UPSETTING AND FRUSTRATING IS THE LACK OF SPECIFIC DETAILS COMING FROM THE VA," HE SAID.
"We have millions of veterans looking to the VA for answers, including older veterans who may not have Internet access or fully comprehend what this means to them, and younger veterans who will now have to carry this dark cloud with them for the rest of their lives."
Separately, Nicholson said in a statement that he had appointed former Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley as his new adviser for information security. Nicholson cited a need for dramatic security changes in the wake of the burglary.
"Rick Romley is a well-respected attorney and veteran who will provide a critical outsider's perspective to VA," Nicholson said. "Rick shares my commitment to cutting through bureaucracy to provide results for our nation's veterans."
Romley, a Vietnam War veteran, prosecuted one of the largest public corruption cases in Arizona in the early 1990s and was seen as a potential GOP contender in that state's 2006 governor's race.
STEPPING DOWN BECAUSE OF THE THEFT
On Tuesday, VA deputy assistant secretary Michael McLendon said he was stepping down because of the theft, and the VA announced it would dismiss the data analyst, who had reported to McLendon.
The department also placed Dennis Duffy, the acting head of the division in which the data analyst worked, on administrative leave.
[enditem] - Associated Propaganda (AP) story in 'Capitol Hill Blue' (which - after founder and editor Doug Thompson was silenced - lost all thinking people's trust under the 'new owners') - Url.:
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_8758.shtml REFERENCES:
* HR is co-author/researcher of the book 'Techno-Bandits' on high-tech computer smuggling. [Houghton Mifflin - 1984] - Url.:
http://www.amahoro.nl/linda/bookt-b.htm * Info for veterans suspecting identity theft - Url.:
http://www.firstgov.gov * US: Total "Terrorism" Information Awareness (TIA) - Url.:
http://www.epic.org/privacy/profiling/tia/ * Identity Card Security: technical explanation - Url.:
http://eid.belgium.be/en/navigation/documents/36728.html * US managers warning for Identity theft - Url.:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/ * 'The Register' very well informed UK site - on ID theft - Url.:
http://forms.theregister.co.uk/search/?q=%22Identity+theft%22 * FPF - Google selection - Identity card misery - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/rldmr * ChoicePoint Settles Data Security Breach Charges; to Pay $10 Million in Civil Penalties, $5 Million for Consumer Redress - Url.:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2006/01/choicepoint.htm * European Union Opus project Research & Development - Url.:
http://homepages.uel.ac.uk/M.Ali/dis/docs/research.html * Supercomputers like the BEAST? - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/mfbyt * US SKEPTICAL: ASSOCIATED PRESS DECIDES? - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/5zosu * Consumers can test their knowledge about identity theft at - Url.:
http://www.onguardonline.gov/quiz/ * FPF - OTHER US/PNAC RELATED LINKS - Url.:
http://tinyurl.com/gkgrb * FPF-COPYRIGHT NOTICE - In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107 - any copyrighted work in this message is distributed by the Foreign Press Foundation under fair use, without profit or payment, to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the information. Url.:
http://liimirror.warwick.ac.uk/uscode/17/107.html FOREIGN PRESS FOUNDATION
http://forpressfound.blogspot.com/ Editor: Henk Ruyssenaars
http://tinyurl.com/amn3q The Netherlands
fpf@chello.nl -0-
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