Homeland Security Employee Details Exposed by Data Theft

May 9, 2007: In yet another high profile data security breach, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a key player in the US Government’s homeland security initiative, has either lost or had stolen a hard drive containing the personal information of over 100,000 people.

Stored on an external hard drive apparently stolen from the department’s Crystal City human resources office in Virginia, the data comprises of the personal information of potentially 100,000 TSA employees, past and present, along with their payroll and banking information.

“TSA has no evidence that an unauthorised 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,” wrote the department in a letter to affected workers according to dailytech.com.

The NSA and FBI have both been brought in to investigate the loss, and while the department has been criticised for delays in notifying affected staff, it has offered one year worth of free credit monitoring as compensation for the breach.

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