Sign in / up

back to article US service personnel at risk of ID theft

Personal details of over half a million US service personnel and their relatives may have been compromised by a Pentagon contractor. Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), a Fortune 500 tech-services provider, announced on Friday that: "Personal information of certain uniformed service members, family members …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Stuart Van Onselen

    Ridiculous state of affairs

    It is clearly impossible to protect yourself from identity theft these days. Even if you take the most paranoid of precautions, there's always the very real risk that someone else will just hand your details to all and sundry.

    What we need is a more secure system (or rather, set of systems) to identify yourself. Be it technological (like public/private keys) or more old-fashioned (pitching up in person before you can open a bank account) or something not yet invented, there is no doubt in my mind that society needs it!

    But in reality, banks seem to think it's cheaper just to fix errors as they are reported, rather than create an error-resistant system. And the little guy gets an unwelcome sexual experience. As usual.

    0 0
  2. Gilbert Wham

    Reminds me of...

    ...the old military aphorism; 'Always remember, your weapon was made by the lowest bidder'. Applies everywhere else, too by the looks of it.

    0 0
  3. Albert Waltien

    A modest proposal

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/19/ebay_enigma_machine/

    0 0
  4. Dillon Pyron

    What do they do for a living?

    Guess what a major part of SAIC's business is. Security consulting for Uncle Sugar.

    0 0
  5. David L. Beem

    And it will happen again...

    Until the U.S. military and Veterans' Administration stop using the servicemember's Social Security Number as an identifier. I seem to remember the SSAN only supposed to be used for banking, credit applications, and of course Social Security purposes. But could it be the U.S. government is not playing by its own rules?

    0 0
  6. heystoopid

    Say

    Say , this is almost as hilarious as the dumb and stupid Bank in America , that inadvertently lost data tapes , with all the pay and account details of all the Pentagon Staff , along with the entire staff of both the houses of Congress and including all Senators and Congresspersons as well!

    Oh well , does go to show cheap cost cutting wankers and adherents to the "Peter Principle" are in plague proportions!

    But then again , can you expect any better performance from the lowest bid tenders , where after expending all the usual bribe monies , and palm greasing to get government contracts , security is the last option on the list of things to do! , for after all we live in the age of profits first and foremost with the customer the absolute last in all equations!

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.