Warnng To Veterans

[Sk8man]

I know this is not fishing related but I also know there are fellow veterans on this site. Apparently the VA records have been hacked into by various governments (Suspected China and Russia among others)....including SS numbers etc. we may be potentially screwed already.

 

http://www.legion.org/security/216119/foreign-hackers-steal-va-data

 

[YodaMage]

What's new...I get a notice about every 4 years that my info might be out in the street...followed by some notice 3 months later that says we're pretty sure you are safe, but keep an eye out. 

 

Government inflicts all sorts of BS costs and rules on private enterprise to store and encrypt data yet the top threat to your data is the government which is staffed by patronage morons without an ounce of competency and/or a third party vendor which was selected through a corrupt process of back room dealing. 

 

As the 4th of July approaches, I again break the record I set last year for how much shame one can feel for their government.

[TOP SECRET]

Guys your data is constantly being lost, stolen, and sold in private industry as well. Best thing you can do is your free credit check every year!

[Sk8man]

This could be much scarier than credit related stuff. Those records are much more extensive and relate to much more than credit records and especially in the hands a of a foreign government....(security clearance related info etc.)

[TOP SECRET]

Ah I thought you meant social security numbers and addresses, etc.

[Sk8man]

That too Nick....it is inconceivable that our government has become this incompetent not to properly safeguard ( at least encrypt) information of this nature and scope. We are talking extensive detailed service records of millions of our citizens.  The real scarey part is that with that very specific information foreign governments can make very accurate calculations about specific aspects of our military as well as the potential military "preparedness" or "readiness" of our civilian population as well as many other important considerations I won't mention publicly. After WWII it was disclosed  that the Japanese had discussed the potential invasion the US but they believed it would be impossible because they thought so many Americans had guns in their homes and would be prepared to use them against them.....so there is considerable value in keeping actual information out of the hands of our enemies and this applies to Russia and China in today's world.

[crumcake1223]

wile I was in Iraq computers would transfer info with external hard drives. 6 months later a " virus" was found in the secure main frame that would copy everything on the geek sticks and send all the info on them to "somewhere". I mean all. any body with soldiers underneath them had many of these externals with every thing from what ur squad did for the day to little private Skippy's whole family info in it.

   this comes to no surprise to me  any more. it seems every day I lose more and more hope for the security of this nation and its ways . thanks for the heads up

[Sk8man]

You're welcome pardner. Best of luck this season with the fishing.

 

Les

[3feathers]

Bad news when ever classified data gets into the wrong hands..Hopefully no one will pay a price for whats occurring now.  However the possibility of Japan not invading the USA back in '40's wasn't due to the thought that too many Americans had firearms..They new they would have to over run the entire Pacific meaning all islands including Hawaii..It would be almost impossible for them to supply and invading army if that wasn't done..The fact that this country has more weapons than any country on earth is well know throughout the world....Maybe that will scare our enemies away..But somehow I doubt it would scare Russia or China..Lets keep our fingers crossed our leaders start doing a better job..

[Sk8man]

I beg to differ on the point I made and you are correct about the rest. Japanese General officers were interviewed quite a while after the war and they confirmed that the above was a factor in their decision not to invade and they subsequently went with a "ruse" attack on the Asleutian Islands....as a distraction. I know you just seem to want to argue with me as on a previous post so this is my last  comment on it.