Idaho National Guard Data Breach

The Idaho Army National Guard has suffered a data breach as a result of a stolen USB thumb drive.

A small computer drive containing the Social Security numbers & personal information for all Idaho National Guards (3,400 members) was stolen on Monday night from a soldier’s car. The soldier was traveling on official duty. Police believe the theft is part of a number of car burglaries in the area, and not a targeted attack.

“You name it, it was on there,” Dowling said of the so-called thumb drive. “Any time our soldiers’ personal data get compromised in any way, it’s a big concern for us. We want to make sure that all of our soldiers are informed and protect themselves.”

The National Guard is personally calling all Guard members and sending out notifications by mail. The day after the theft, the National Guard activated a phone tree normally used for natural disasters or state emergencies.

Although the Guard is in the process of encrypting all decides, this particular thumb drive had not not encrypted yet. There is no policy prohibiting soldiers from removing storage devices from office property.

Affected soldiers can go to www.idahoarmyguard.org for more information.

Via FOX & tg daily & Star Tribune Tags: national guard, data breach, idaho national guard, stolen data, identity theft