Released: February 15, 2007

Credit freeze better than monitoring

Source: Michelle Singletary, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Here we go again. The Department of Veterans Affairs has disclosed that information on more than half a million individuals and about 1.3 million non-VA physicians - both living and deceased - is missing and may have been stolen. The information had been stored on a portable hard drive that was being used by a VA employee at the department in Birmingham, Ala.

The VA said it would notify people whose sensitive information may have been on the hard drive and will make arrangements to provide one year of free credit monitoring to those whose information proves “compromised.”

In another information snafu, a vendor working for Piper Jaffray accidentally sent current and former employees their W-2 forms with Social Security numbers printed on the outside of the envelopes. The investment and securities firm also said it will offer a year of free credit monitoring to those affected.

Read Full Article: Credit freeze better than monitoring