WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2006
More Government Laptops Missing
Census Bureau Claims Chances Of Personal Data Misuse Are Low
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Play CBS Video Video Missing Government Laptops The Department of Commerce admitted that it is missing 1,100 computers, many containing personal information taken by the Census Bureau. Sharyl Attkisson reports from Washington.
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Video Internet Scams Evolve A new security report claimed that 86% of all targeted attacks on the Internet were against home users. Sandra Hughes explains how sophisticated Internet scams threaten millions of Americans.
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(AP / CBS)
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News Tools Data Goes Missing An overview of some recent security breaches involving electronic government data.
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Interactive ID Theft See how you may be vulnerable, learn about new scams and get tips to protect your good name.
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Interactive The Nation We Live In Who are Americans and what do they do? A comprehensive look at our economic, sociological and racial breakdown.
Some questions were personal: Who did she live with? How much money did she make? Where were her parents born?
Mazur, a 29-year-old lawyer in Chicago, said she was happy to answer. But after hearing that Census Bureau workers have lost 672 laptop computers since 2001, including 246 that contained personal data, she's not sure she'd do it again.
"You hear stories about people, schemers pretending to be a bank employee," Mazur said. "Knowing there have been problems (at the Census Bureau), I would be less willing to do it if somebody I didn't know called me."
The Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, this week became the latest federal agency to acknowledge losing laptop computers containing sensitive information. Overall, the department has lost or had stolen 1,137 laptops since 2001 — the largest number of computers that any agency has publicly acknowledged losing.
CBS News obtained records that show that one computer after another just walked out the door after employees quit or were fired.
All the computers containing personal information were protected by passwords or encryption technology. Still, the disclosure raises questions about the government's ability to protect sensitive information, said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va.
At least eight other federal agencies have reported computers with sensitive information lost, stolen or illegally accessed in recent months. The biggest case was at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which had a computer containing the personal information of 26.5 million veterans and military personnel stolen. The computer was eventually recovered with no data accessed.
"The reality is, we are incapable of storing, moving and accessing information," said Davis, who vowed to pursue legislation to improve security. "The American people deserve better from their government." Davis chairs the House Government Reform Committee, which has requested information about lost or stolen computers from all Cabinet agencies. He hopes to compile a report by next week.
Other embarrassing mishaps include a Navy recruiter who lost 30,000 records when a bag holding his laptop fell off his motorcycle in August. The Department of Education lost personal information of 11,000 federal student aid borrowers and 13,000 others who responded to a study, reports CBS News correspondent Sharyl Attkisson.
©MMVI CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- I keep hearing from local newspaper that Social Secuirty office being broken into and steal desktop PC or laptop which contains SSN database...well no wonder why they call it social!
It seem to me they performing identity thief rather than selling PC hardware, possibly making more money that way.
That is very scary - Reply to this comment
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Oh well so whats a few million dollars loss of
our tax money for lost or stolen US Government
Lap Top Computers to Big Spender George W Bush &
His Band Of Total Incompetent Axis Of Evil Bush
Weasels anyhow?
And so where is our Do Nothing Sec Of Homeland
Security Micheal Chertoff on this one? Or doesn't
President George W Bush have anyone in charge of
securing these computers or has the Republican
National Committee been selling them on E-bay
for TV Ads for Republican Candidates? - Reply to this comment
- Wow, apparently people in the government never tried to find out how easy it is to crack passwords and encryptions.... Its actually very easy and fast depending on the setup of your computer and how you program the decryption/password cracking program.
- Reply to this comment
- I pray that the missing computors are found and that nothing is missing. If someone has stolen them and they are not misplaced, then it is obvious that the information will be used for the wrong purpose or they would not have stolen them. My prayer is that they will be found before something drastic happens.
Thank You and God Bless
Ronnie D. Smith - Reply to this comment
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