The American Veteran's #1 Information Source
                                                   Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage

                      VA NEWS FLASH from Larry Scott at VA Watchdog dot Org -- 04-16-2009		  



 


  click above for details



       click for details

 
 

 


 



VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.






Be sure to get all four
VA Watchdog dot Org
RSS feeds --
Daily VA
News Flashes
 House CVA
Veterans' News
 Senate CVA
Veterans' News
 VA Press
Releases
 

 


Download your
free copy of the
2008 VA benefits
handbook here...
 

 

Printer-Friendly Version



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

VETERAN PLEADS GUILTY IN THEFT OF VA COMPUTERS --

The three computers were stolen from the Indianapolis

VA hospital in November of 2007.

 

Veteran Joseph Radican pleads guilty.

 

Your comments accepted at bottom of page.


Share story/email link.
-------------------------

by Larry Scott, VA Watchdog dot Org

 

In May of 2006 we learned that a VA laptop computer containing the personal information of more than 26 million veterans had been stolen.

That story had a happy ending, with the computer being recovered and no data lost ... even though a Court settlement over the incident cost the VA $20 million.

More than a year after the laptop theft, the VA was still having computer and data problems.

A GAO report found that veterans' data was still at risk.

VA was found to be missing millions of dollars worth of computer gear, some of it containing veterans' personal information.

Then, in November of 2007, we found that a VA auditor had stolen veterans' information ...

... and three computers were stolen from the VA hospital in Indianapolis.

The VA just hadn't learned any lessons.  Video showed that a veteran had walked out with the computers ... security was non-existent.

Eventually the veteran was found and charged ... and the computers recovered with no data missing.

Now, that veteran, Joseph Radican, has entered a guilty plea.  That story is below.

But, has the VA learned anything ... yet?

In 2008, fully two years after the "big" laptop heist ... we have another GAO report that states the VA could not locate 62,800 computer items, of which 9,800 could have stored sensitive information.  But, VA has no idea what data was on those devices.

Although VA has made strides in securing data by using encryption programs, physical security of computer gear is still lacking.

Expect more stories about computer theft.


                            click for more information -- a disabled veteran owned business

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090415/NEWS02/904150347

Guilty plea in theft of 3 VA computers



A Speedway man has pleaded guilty to theft for stealing three computers from the Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Joseph A. Radican, 51, was sentenced to 18 months' probation after entering the plea Tuesday in Marion Superior Court.

Radican also agreed to supply information that will help authorities recover the computers, said Mario Massillamany, spokesman for Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.

 One of the missing computers contained names, birth dates and Social Security numbers of more than 11,000 veterans who were patients at the hospital.

Veterans Affairs officials said there is no indication the patients' information has been used.

The FBI and the VA have posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the computers.

Two desktops and one laptop disappeared from the medical center on Nov. 10, 2007.

Radican, who had been a patient at the center, was identified through surveillance video taken on the day the computers disappeared, prosecutors said.

Investigators said Radican tried to pawn the laptop computer and a flat-screen monitor, but the pawn shop worker refused them.

-------------------------
posted by Larry Scott
Founder and Editor
VA Watchdog dot Org
-------------------------

-------------------------
Please post your comments below on Google Friend Connect.  You must sign in.  For larger view and work area, click blue "expand" button in upper right corner of comment box.

-------------------------

Don't forget to read all of today's VA News Flashes (click here)
Click here to make VA Watchdog dot Org your homepage
(go back to VA Watchdog dot Org Home Page)



       
Military Medical Malpractice 
Legal Network               

 

 



VA Watchdog Stuff...
cups, hats, shirts...
click on item to order
and support the site.

 

 
   
Google
 
Web www.vawatchdog.org


FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such materials available in an effort to advance understanding of veterans' issues. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed an interest in receiving the included information for educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml   If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.