And why is it not law, that all federal agencies and companies that keep personal, financial and medical information on computers not be encrypted? This is getting a bit absurd now. It’s not that there is a high cost for doing it. Since the most widely used OS is Windows, and it has encryption built in, isn’t it just a matter of configuring and enabling? Have government admins heard of GPO? Oh, htey probably don’t even use passwords.
On another note, TSA folks are outraged…..like the same rage people have when dealing with the absurdity and different rules from airport to airport with the TSA?
TSA computer hard drive missing; data of 100,000 federal employees missing – USATODAY.com Personal and financial records of 100,000 Transportation Security Administration employees were lost after a computer hard drive was reported missing from the agencys headquarters in Arlington, Va. The TSA said it does not know if the external hard drive was stolen or lost inside the agency. The portable drive contains the bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, names and birth dates of people who worked at the TSA between January 2002 and August 2005, the TSA said in a statement on its website. The TSA said it learned that the hard drive was missing Thursday, and told employees in an email sent Friday at around 6:45 p.m. Don Thomas, a TSA screener in Orlando, was enraged that he did not find out sooner. "Its totally unacceptable. Who are they to hold this information back from people?" Thomas said Friday night as he was contacting his banks to tell them to block withdrawals from his accounts. "All it takes is 30 seconds to wipe you out. They [TSA officials] dont care about their screeners."
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