Missing flash drive jeopardizes Marines ( Identity Theft )

[leftchick]

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137835132713&path=!localnews&s=1037645509099

WASHINGTON

More than 200,000 Marines - including thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan - face a threat of identity theft if a missing computer flash drive falls into the wrong hands.

The Marine Corps issued a worldwide warning last month urging enlisted personnel to watch for suspicious activity on their bank accounts and credit reports.

The lost information includes names, Social Security numbers, marital status and other records of 207,750 enlisted, active-duty Marines for the past five years, said Lt. Col. Mike Perry, who oversees Marine Corps' manpower information technology branch. The information - from a Marine Corps database at Quantico Marine Corps Base, Va. - was stored on the thumb-size drive for use by a Marine Corps major studying at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.

The officer, who has not been identified, was conducting research on re-enlistment bonuses.

[saigon68]

1. Nice Security

</sarcasm>

[WhiteTara]

2. kick

:kick: for the night crowd

[OKthatsIT]

3. Watch out for fake news...Bush Admin is starting up many syndicates

psyops.

[Hobarticus]

4. Major or no, that's some serious stuff to just be moseying about with...

Not so much a national security thing, but damn, these Marines have enough to worry about without this crap going on at home.