[Infowarrior] - TSA Loses Hard Drive With 100K Personal Info

[Richard Forno]

TSA Loses Hard Drive With Personal Info

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070505/D8OTUCJ80.html

May 4, 10:03 PM (ET)

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Transportation Security Administration has lost a
computer hard drive containing Social Security numbers, bank data and
payroll information for about 100,000 employees.

Authorities realized Thursday the hard drive was missing from a controlled
area at TSA headquarters. TSA Administrator Kip Hawley sent a letter to
employees Friday apologizing for the lost data and promising to pay for one
year of credit monitoring services.

"TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal
information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be
alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity," Hawley wrote in the
letter, which was obtained by The Associated Press. "We profoundly apologize
for any inconvenience and concern that this incident has caused you."

The agency said it did not know whether the device is still within
headquarters or was stolen.

TSA said it has asked the FBI and Secret Service to investigate and said it
would fire anyone discovered to have violated the agency's data-protection
policies.

In a statement released Friday night, the agency said the external - or
portable - hard drive contained information on employees who worked for the
Homeland Security agency from January 2002 until August 2005.

TSA, a division of the Homeland Security Department, employs about 50,000
people and is responsible for security of the nation's transportation
systems, including airports and train stations.

"It's seems like there's a problem with security inside Homeland Security
and that makes no sense," said James Slade, a TSA screener and the executive
vice president of the National Treasury Employees Union chapter at John F.
Kennedy International Airport. "That's scary. That's my identity. And now
who has a hold of it? So many things go on in your mind."

The agency added a section to its Web site Friday night addressing the data
security breach and directing people to information about identity theft.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, whose Homeland Security subcommittee
oversees the TSA, promised to hold hearings on the security breach. She said
Homeland Security buildings are part of the critical infrastructure the
agency is charged with protecting.

"We should expect it to be secure," she said.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss.,
called the security breach "a terrible and unfortunate blow" for an agency
he said already suffered from low morale.

It's the latest mishap for the government involving computer data. Last
year, a laptop with information for more than 26.5 million military
personnel, was stolen from a Veterans Affairs Department employee's home.
Law enforcement officials recovered the laptop, and the FBI said Social
Security numbers and other personal data had not been copied.

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Associated Press writer Ted Bridis contributed to this report.