Recovered VA Laptop

Wow, law enforcement actually got one back. The laptop that contained the personal information for up to 26 million veterans has been found. Forensics are being performed to determine if and how much of the data may have been accessed.

From the AP here:

Government says stolen VA laptop recovered

WASHINGTON – The government has recovered the stolen laptop computer and hard drive containing sensitive data for up to 26.5 million veterans and military personnel, Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson said Thursday.

Nicholson said law enforcement officials were still investigating to determine whether data from the equipment, which included names, birth dates and Social Security numbers, had been duplicated or utilized in any way.

Nicholson offered no immediate details on how the laptop was recovered. He acknowledged that the burglary “has brought to the light of day some real deficiencies in the manner we handled personal data.”

Real deficiencies? Like the lack of encryption? Duh.

It is also interesting to note that this was likely the FBI that got this laptop back. Normally simple theft of a computer would be treated like a local crime. You get a police report so you can file an insurance claim and the case is closed. But when Congressmen get uppity, the FBI gets involved and the case gets solved using good police work.

Which now begs the question. At what point should the FBI get involved to track down a laptop? What is the cutoff line? 20 Million Americans with data exposed? Ten?

UPDATE!

The data was not accessed.

The FBI, in a statement from its Baltimore field office, said a preliminary review of the equipment by its computer forensic teams “has determined that the data base remains intact and has not been accessed since it was stolen.”