Washington, D.C. – Congressman G. K. Butterfield urges anyone possibly affected by the theft of sensitive personal data from the Department of Veterans Affairs to immediately take advantage of the offer of free credit monitoring.
“Free credit monitoring is a good start to correcting a terrible mistake,” Butterfield said. “But real steps must still be taken to fulfill the duty of guaranteeing our nation’s veterans and military families are not harmed by identity theft.”
The sensitive personal data and biographical information of up to 26.5 million veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard and Reservists was stored on a laptop computer stolen May 3rd from the home of a data analyst for Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The stolen information includes names, birthdates and social security numbers.
Today, Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson announced that VA will provide one year of free credit monitoring to people whose sensitive personal information may have been stolen in the incident.
This week, VA will solicit bids from qualified companies to provide a comprehensive credit monitoring solution. VA will ask these companies to provide expedited proposals and to be prepared to implement them rapidly once they are under contract.
After VA hires a credit monitoring company, it will send a detailed letter to people whose sensitive personal information may have been included in the stolen data. This letter will explain credit monitoring and how eligible people can enroll or “opt-in” for the services. The Department expects to have the services in place and the letters mailed by mid-August.
Butterfield said that he has also added a web page regarding the VA’s data breach with information about contacting the VA, and about how to protect against identity theft. The information can be found at Butterfield’s Congressional web site at: www.house.gov/butterfield.
Butterfield said that he is also a co-sponsor of comprehensive legislation aimed at greatly enhancing security for the military families at risk of identity theft.
The bill would require free credit monitoring for a year as well as a free annual credit report for two year beyond that. It would also require the VA to arrange a fraud alert for any veterans affected for one year at no cost. The alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before opening new accounts or making changes to existing accounts. Other provisions include requiring the VA to better protect the sensitive information of veterans and requiring prompt notification of security breaches. It would also create an Ombudsman for data security at the VA who would assist veterans who are the victims of a data breach or identity theft.
“It’s unfortunate that this legislation is even necessary,” Butterfield said. “But we have a duty to protect the privacy and good credit of our veterans and active-duty service members.”
Butterfield also said that VA also continues to operate a call center that people can contact to get information about this incident and learn more about consumer-identity protections. That toll free number is 1-800-FED INFO (1-800-333-4636). The call center is operating from 8:00 am to 9:00 pm (EDT), Monday-Saturday as long as it is needed.