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GCN Home > 11/02/06 web stories

Army command laptop missing

By Jason Miller, GCN Staff

The Army’s Accessions Command in Ft. Monroe, Va., reported a laptop computer with personal information on 4,600 scholarship applicants for the Reserve Officer Training Corps went missing Oct. 23.

The command just yesterday let the House Government Reform Committee know that the notebook went missing. The committee asked all agencies to report all data breaches since Jan. 1, 2003. Agencies had until July 24 to report their information, but the committee still is receiving reports of data breaches.

Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman, said the data was password protected using the Common Access Card. This means whoever allegedly stole the laptop would need the card and the user’s personal identification number to access the computer. However, the data itself was not encrypted.

This was the first time the Army has reported a data breach, according to committee chairman Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

Davis, speaking today at an IT security event in Falls Church, Va., sponsored by the Information Technology Association of America, an industry trade organization in Arlington, Va., said the Army either has been “that good or lucky or their information is incomplete.”

The Veterans Affairs Department incident earlier this year, when the laptop was stolen, "raised the threshold of awareness to just how vulnerable we are."

"There is a need for proactive breach reporting requirements," Davis said. "The history of withholding [news of] these events has to stop."

An amendment spelling out reporting requirements was included in the VA bill passed by the House just before the election recess, he added.

The lost laptop comes about a month after Army CIO Lt. Gen. Steven Boutelle signed a memo outlining steps commands should take to protect personal information.

In a memo to members of Congress about the missing laptop, the Army said the notebook contained social security numbers, addresses, dates of birth and other personal identifiable information of ROTC applicants.

The Army said there is an ongoing investigation by the Criminal Investigation Command as well as a Commander’s inquiry. Additionally, the Training and Doctrine Command reviewed physical security measures and implemented new ones to help prevent a recurrence, the statement to Congress said.

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