My question about the stolen veterans’ data

I’m still trying to wrap my head around one aspect of this story regarding the apparent theft of 26.5 million military veterans’ personal data (names, social security numbers, and birthdates). According to the New York Times, “[The data] was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the data ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around one aspect of this story regarding the apparent theft of 26.5 million military veterans' personal data (names, social security numbers, and birthdates). According to the New York Times, "[The data] was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the data home without authorization, the agency said Monday." Let's assume there was authorization -- what possible reason would a DVA employee have to take home that kind of data? This sort of episode does raise some intriguing questions about supporters of national ID cards or other central registries -- to what extent does the possibility of data piracy negate whatever security gains would be generated by such ideas? UPDATE: The VA didn't alert the FBI about the stolen data for two friggin' weeks??!!! What did they think -- it would just show up after looking under the couch cushions?

I’m still trying to wrap my head around one aspect of this story regarding the apparent theft of 26.5 million military veterans’ personal data (names, social security numbers, and birthdates). According to the New York Times, “[The data] was stolen from the residence of a Department of Veterans Affairs employee who had taken the data home without authorization, the agency said Monday.” Let’s assume there was authorization — what possible reason would a DVA employee have to take home that kind of data? This sort of episode does raise some intriguing questions about supporters of national ID cards or other central registries — to what extent does the possibility of data piracy negate whatever security gains would be generated by such ideas? UPDATE: The VA didn’t alert the FBI about the stolen data for two friggin’ weeks??!!! What did they think — it would just show up after looking under the couch cushions?

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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