Sorry if this has already been posted, it's two days old, but I have not seen it here. I learned of it from American Progress email alert:
CORPORATE WATCH – THIRD TIME'S A FAILURE: From the government-bankrolled corporation that brought us the failed FBI computer upgrade and the non-existent Iraqi security force comes another failure in a string of, well, failures. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) recently informed "some of the nation's most influential former military and intelligence officials" that they were "at risk of identity theft" due to a robbery at the SAIC offices. The personal information – including the officials' Social Security numbers, phone numbers and addresses – was not obtained by some Mission Impossible stunt; the thieves gained access to the building by breaking a few windows. For a company that is entrusted with "sensitive government contracts, including many in information security," vulnerability to smash and grab jobs brings us down to a whole new level of national insecurity.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17506-2005Feb11.html?sub=ARBreak-In At SAIC Risks ID Theft
Computers Held Personal Data on Employee-Owners By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 12, 2005; Page E01
Some of the nation's most influential former military and intelligence officials have been informed in recent days that they are at risk of identity theft after a break-in at a major government contractor netted computers containing the Social Security numbers and other personal information about tens of thousands of past and present company employees. The contractor, employee-owned Science Applications International Corp. of San Diego, handles sensitive government contracts, including many in information security. It has a reputation for hiring Washington's most powerful figures when they leave the government, and its payroll has been studded with former secretaries of defense, CIA directors and White House counterterrorism advisers.
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David Kay, who was chief weapons inspector in Iraq after nearly a decade as an executive at SAIC, said he has devoted more than a dozen hours to shutting down accounts and safeguarding his finances. He said the successful theft of personal data, by thieves who smashed windows to gain access, does not speak well of a company that is devoted to keeping the government's secrets secure. "I just find it unexplainable how anyone could be so casual with such vital information. It's not like we're just now learning that identity theft is a problem," said Kay, who lives in Northern Virginia.
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Bobby Ray Inman, former deputy director of the CIA and a former director at SAIC, agreed. "It's worrisome," said Inman, who also received notification of the theft last week. "If the security is sloppy, it raises questions." Ben Haddad, an SAIC spokesman, said yesterday that the Jan. 25 theft, which the company announced last week, occurred in an administrative building where no sensitive contracting work is performed. Haddad said the company does not know whether the thieves targeted specific computers containing employee information or if they were simply after hardware to sell for cash. In either case, the company is taking no chances. "We're taking this extremely seriously," Haddad said. "It's certainly not something that would reflect well on any company, let alone a company that's involved in information security. But what can I say? We're doing everything we can to get to the bottom of it."
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The theft comes at a time when the company, which depends on the federal government for more than 80 percent of its $7 billion annual revenue, is already under scrutiny for its handling of several contracts. Last week on Capitol Hill, FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III testified that the company had botched an attempt to build software for the bureau's new Virtual Case File system. The $170 million upgrade was supposed to allow agents to sift through different cases electronically, but the FBI has said the new system is so outdated that it will probably be scrapped.
more....
Edited to add WP link.
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