TRICARE Records Theft

Why are these private contractors employee's still being allowed to carry extremely sensitive records information out of any facility they work in? The known of privatizing keeps playing out as some continue to want even more!

Stolen TRICARE health records did not meet federal encryption standards

09/30/2011 - Computer tapes containing health care information on 4.9 million TRICARE beneficiaries stolen from the car of a Science Applications International Corp. employee in San Antonio, Texas, earlier this month were not encrypted in compliance with federal standards, SAIC said.

The Texas TRICARE data theft is the largest health data breach since February 2010, when the Health and Human Services Department began requiring health care organizations to post on a website breaches of health information affecting more than 500 people.

Vernon Guidry, an SAIC spokesman, said in a statement that "some personal information was encrypted prior to being backed up on the tapes." But, he added, "the operating system used by the government facility to perform the backup onto the tape was not capable of encrypting data in a manner that was compliant with the relevant federal standard."

That facility, which Guidry did not identify, "was seeking a compliant encryption solution that would work with the operating system when the backup tapes were taken." read more>>>

Groups urge TRICARE to provide credit monitoring for victims of records theft

10/03/2011 - The two largest associations for military officers urged TRICARE to provide credit and identity theft monitoring services to the 4.9 million beneficiaries whose personnel information was recorded on backup computer tapes stolen in September.

Those tapes contained sensitive health information as well as other data that could lead to identity theft and fraud, including Social Security numbers, addresses and phone numbers. The tapes were stolen from the car of a Science Applications International Corp. employee in San Antonio, Texas, last month.

But TRICARE, in an announcement of the theft, which it described as a data breach, said it did not plan to offer credit monitoring services because "retrieving the data on the tapes would require knowledge of and access to specific hardware and software and knowledge of the system and data structure."

When the Veterans Affairs Department discovers a loss, theft or exposure of this kind it routinely offers credit monitoring services and up to $1 million annually in identity theft protection at a cost per veteran of $29.95 a year. If TRICARE or SAIC provided such monitoring and protection at the same rate, they would face a bill as high as $146.8 million. read more>>>