Posted on 02/25/2005 5:57:55 PM PST by tomball
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Bank of America said Friday it lost computer tapes containing account information on 1.2 million federal employee credit cards, among them those of U.S. senators, potentially exposing them to theft or hacking.
The bank told CNN/Money that federal government's General Services Administration (GSA) cardholders' account information may have been on the tapes.
The tapes were lost in December, but a bank spokeswoman told Reuters that bank officials were not allowed to notify cardholders until they received permission from federal law enforcement authorities
The missing tapes may contain information, including cardholders' names, addresses and social security numbers. But it varies from account to account.
According to Time.com, which cited an unnamed U.S. official, a large percentage of the accounts are for the Pentagon, in addition to 40 federal agencies and other entities.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, told Reuters that he had been informed by the Senate Rules Committee that the data tapes were likely stolen off a commercial plane by baggage handlers.
"Whether it is identity theft, terrorism or other theft, in this new and complicated world baggage handlers should have background checks and more care should be taken for who is hired for these increasingly sensitive positions," he added.
Bank of America declined to reveal how many GSA accounts they handle but a spokeswoman said federal law enforcement is investigating the loss.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
First thing you know, we'll have dozens of kerry klones running around out there, charging snowboards, windsurfers, and $6,000 bicycles to his account. Dreadful.
Something smells about this.
"...data tapes were stolen off a commercial plane by baggage handlers..."
But I thought the Soviet-style inspections of 87-year-old World War II heroes assured our security!
Could we have all been wrong?
Ping
'Bout time these schmucks suffered the same things they've been subjecting to the 'little people'.
probably on a plane to Bangalore India, where all their IT operations are.
For once the right people were affected. How about closing those accounts, so nothing worse happens. Suits me fine.
This is much deeper than what it seems.
D-1, alot of those cards are held by members of the military.
This explains why my husband, who is probably using said card while on official business right now, got a letter today from BOA telling him that he will be receiving a new card shortly and outlining strict security procedures for verifying his identity!
Gator Girl, that's unfortunate. I read where our Senators may have been affected and fired off on that point. I did not intend to imply that your husband's situation or a situation affecting members of the military negatively was appropriate.
I hope this works out quickly for your family, and others whose members are in the military. I applogize if it appeared I felt otherwise on the subject.
Think so too.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!
Now the Congress-critters can find out how the rest of us live our lives!
Fleet/BofA are scummy operations, the rest of government are the same.
Let's see if we can get some public info on the Klintoon admin by hacking into their data!
Well, if they would cancel the Senator's accounts and leave the military's I wouldn't mind.
Actually, the military has had problems with people charging all sorts of stuff they shouldn't as well!
Thanks for the nice thoughts, but it doesn't really affect my family too much. I'm just worried that if they've cut off his accounts, he'll have to use his personal card and we'll have to hassle with reimbursement! And of course, the ID theft issue.
Thanks for the additional comments. Take care.
IT is a lot harder to loose 1.2 million paper file folders. Why was this information not encyripted? All kinds of "NEW" information is required by the patriot act for credit card accounts. And this is the result...Criminals can access that information.
These tapes were in baggage on a commercial plane? Not special courier or even via Fed EX (but maybe Fed EX is implied in the word "commercial" as opposed to it being a passenger plane)? Or not as important documents used to be handled: personally carried in a case/cases that never left the individual/s? If that is the "case" shame on BOA for not being more vigilant! Something is not right with this story, perhaps.
ping
bump
Alot of MIL personnel were on these tapes. This needs your MIL ping lists.
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