Fed breach leaks Social Security numbers

[oberliner]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Social Security numbers of 63,000 people who received Agriculture Department grants have been posted on a government Web site since 1996, but they were taken down last week. Free credit monitoring is being offered to those affected.

The security breach was only noticed last week and promptly closed, the Agriculture Department and
Census Bureau announced Friday.

The Agriculture data that included Social Security numbers were removed from the Web on April 13 and similar data from 32 other agencies were taken down April 17 as a precaution, said Agriculture spokeswoman Terri Teuber.

A review has determined that none of the other 32 agencies had a similar problem, said Sean Kevelighan, spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070421/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/government_data_breach;_ylt=AqcWokL14aqj9YxsgvkVld7MWM0F

[napi21]

1. I wonder of any of the people whose SS #'s were posted had

their identity stolen? I have to ask again..."Where do they FIND these stupid people?"

I swear, having interviewed and hired a lot of people in my life, I don't think I could have found so many dumb asses as Shrub has found if I had TRIED!

The really frightening thing is...these are all his biddies!!!!!!

[WePurrsevere]

3. It's truly unbelievable isn't it?

I can't believe so much personal info has been leaked lately. x(

[Mnemosyne]

2. A Chronology of Data Breaches

TOTAL number of records containing sensitive personal information involved in


security breaches: 153,558,451

Posted April 20, 2005
Updated April 17, 2007

http://www.privacyrights.org/ar/ChronDataBreaches.htm


US population - 305,658,488


http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html


It just gets more disturbing each day it seems.

[WePurrsevere]

4. "Since 1996"? So who put this up there in the first place & who left it

up all this time? x(

Most non-corp farmers can ill afford to have their credit messed with. So many are juggling like crazy just to keep going and sadder yet so many have given up and closed up the farm:(.

This definitely falls under the "what the heck were they thinking" category. :wow:

[Gormy Cuss]

5. The Feds are entitled to use and post SSNs.

The only reason this is an identity theft issue today is because the Feds allowed private businesses to use Social Security numbers for the purpose of ID.

While some nongovernmental agencies are required to collect SSNs for the purpose of reporting to the governments, none are required to use it as the principal ID for their own customer service and account management.

Forcing private companies to use some other numbering scheme is long overdue.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

6. Considering how many times...

These things have happened, are we beyond the thought that this has anything to do with coincidence or simple user error? I do hope so, because denial is a Very Bad Thing.

I suspect that part of this has to do with eroding confidence in the SS system.