14 DAY TRIAL // 1137 laptops have been lost by The U.S. Commerce Department since 2001. The House Committee on Government Reform asked for a response, and officials declared that "they must have put the laptops down somewhere and couldn't remember where they put them".
At least 8 federal agencies have reported computers with sensitive information lost, stolen, or illegally accessed in recent months, according to Chicago Tribune. The biggest case is reported to be the one concerning the Department of Veteran Affairs, which had a computer storing the personal information of 27 million veterans and military personnel stolen.
The unit was eventually recovered and no data seemed accessed, but still, the security problem remains. Later on, data about 2.2 million active-duty National Guard and Reserve Troops was stolen from a government employee's house. Also, the IRS lost 2332 laptops, 40 badges, 50 radios and "15 electronic surveillance devices that could compromise the public's safety or ongoing investigations", stated to a report from 2002.
250 units were from The Census Bureau and contained names, incomes and Social Security numbers. Among the missing computers, 104 were stolen and 113 were not returned by former employees. The rest were "misplaced".
Although the personal information was protected by passwords or encryption technology, we all know that all that can be easily broken if needed. I can't stop wondering if the laptops were lost, or if they were "lost". I also wonder how much would some guys be willing to pay to have their data suddenly disappear, and what some would do to keep their data private. Too late now.
Tom Davis, chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, said that "the reality is, we are unable of storing, moving and accessing information. The American people deserve better from their government."
Until now, no evidence was found that any personal information from the Census Bureau has been accessed or misused. However, a separate report found 297 cases since 2003, in which sensitive personal information was lost or compromised, involving 217 laptops, 15 hand-held devices, 46 USB drives and some other materials. On average, a computer would contain information from 30 households.
The agency's director of communications, Ruth Cymber, also showed that publicly disclosing personal information from census surveys is a crime punishable by up to five years in prison and a 250.000$ fine.