“This latest incident shows that the VA still has miles to go to get a handle on protecting the private information of America’s veterans. For years the VA ignored the warnings of its own Inspector General and we saw the consequences of that in May with the theft of the VA laptop that contained the personal information of 25 million veterans. As long as the current VA system remains susceptible to dangerous security breaches, veterans’ personal information is at risk, and the VA should provide credit monitoring and protection.
“This most recent incident expands the scope of the VA’s problems. The first breach revealed serious problems within the VA. Now we’re seeing apparent problems in how the VA’s contractors handle data. However, the bottom line is the same – veterans could be at risk of identity theft and credit fraud because the VA has failed to employ an effective system to secure veterans’ data, and that’s intolerable.
“I call on the VA to avoid the same mistakes it made in the past by quickly coming forward with an accurate and complete accounting of this latest incident. The VA has a lot of work to do to protect our veterans and restore the trust that has been lost, and being honest with those at risk is the first step.
“Once again, the VA must provide free credit monitoring and must move forward with securing the personal data of our nation’s veterans.”
To receive veterans updates from Senator Murray please visit: http://murray.senate.gov/vetupdates/
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