US TSA loses hard drive containing employee info

Stephen Withers
Tuesday, 08 May 2007 12:05

Your IT - Home IT

The US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has admitted an external hard drive containing personal details of some 100,000 employees is missing.

The TSA, which falls under the Homeland Security umbrella, isn't sure whether the drive has been misplaced or stolen, but the loss is being treated as a criminal matter with the FBI and Secret Service involved in the investigation.

Current and former TSA employees affected by the loss - those working for the agency between January 2002 and August 2005 - will be given assistance to avoid identity theft, including credit monitoring. If the worst comes to the worst, ID theft victims will be provided with the services of identity restoration specialists.

In an open letter to employees, TSA officials wrote "TSA has no evidence that an unauthorized individual is using your personal information, but we bring this incident to your attention so that you can be alert to signs of any possible misuse of your identity. TSA apologizes that your information may be subject to unauthorized access, and deeply regrets this incident."

The missing data probably includes information about Federal Air Marshals, but TSA officials assert that "without extensive knowledge of TSA's human resource system, it is extremely difficult to determine what positions employees on the missing drive have within the agency." If the drive does turn out to be stolen and it was an inside job, that knowledge could be available to the recipient.

Employees have been put on notice that the "TSA has zero tolerance for employees not following policies on data protection and will take swift disciplinary action, including dismissal, against individuals found to be in violation of our procedures."