The VA is overoptomistically hopeful that the data of 26.5 million veterans has been erased. Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson wants us to believe that tech savvy teens are responsible for a ring of thefts in which they erase data before reselling the computer equipment.
He explained that the burglary occurred in an Aspen Hill, Md., neighborhood in which there had been a pattern of thefts by young burglars who took computer equipment, wiped them clean of the data and then sold them on college campus or high schools.
“We remain hopeful this was a common random theft and that no use will be made of this data,” Nicholson said. “However, certainly we cannot count on that.”
Lawmakers were skeptical. They noted that the committee and the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative arm, had warned the VA for years that security was lax.
This is pure speculation. The teens may well be lazy and naive as criminals. If they don’t pay any attention to current events, then maybe the data has been erased. However, now that the contents of the drives are public, if the criminals who took them are savvy at all, they are happily sifting through their valuable treasure and discussing ways to market the trove to the highest bidder.
I wonder what the street value of 26.5 million American identities is? There’s another interesting descrepancy in reporting on this fiasco – sometimes we’re told that the data is on 26.5 million veterans and sometimes it’s only 2.2 million. I am guessing that when we hear 26.5 million it includes all veterans going back 50 or more years, and when we hear 2.2. million the number is related to current active duty military personnel – and that’s all of them. It sounds to me like it was a complete database of every veteran since World War II. Nice. Join me in a *polite golf clap* for the VA, ladies and gents. Government taking care of veterans!