Hard Drive With Employee Data Missing

Data Security Breach. It's what we in the journalistic trade call a "standing head" -- so commonplace, that few are surprised when another occurrence takes place.

But here we go again, this time involving the Transportation Security Administration, and the bank records and other personal data of roughly 100,000 employees... including airport screeners and federal air marshals, according to the Washington Times. The FBI is investigating.

"This is considered serious," a Homeland Security official said on the condition of anonymity. "We've turned this place upside-down today to find the missing laptop."

Laptop? The agency may not have been certain in the beginning of this episode of exactly where the data resided. The TSA released a statement referring to the missing item as an external hard drive, not a laptop.

The statement went on to say that on Thursday, officials became aware it (the hard drive) was missing from a controlled security area at the headquarters of its Office of Human Capital.

The files on the hard drive include (if you have worked or work for the TSA, cringe here) the archived records of employees, along with their Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial allotments, and payroll information. 

The TSA said it "immediately reported the incident to senior Department of Homeland Security and law enforcement officials and launched an investigation."

"TSA is treating this incident as a criminal matter and has asked the FBI to investigate. The US Secret Service is also assisting in the forensic review of equipment and facilities. TSA is cooperating fully."

On Friday, the agency began the unhappy task notifying all affected employees with instructions on how to protect themselves against identity fraud.

Included was a letter from TSA Administrator Kip Hawley (right) stating the agency will pay for a credit monitoring service for one year, which includes all three national credit bureau reports, fraud alerts, detection of fraudulent activity, and identify theft, and fraud resolution and assistance.

"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," Hawley's letter states.

"We are notifying you out of an abundance of caution at this early stage of the investigation given the significance of the information contained on the device. We apologize that your information may be subject to unauthorized access, and I deeply regret this incident."

The TSA said it will take "swift disciplinary action, including dismissal, against individuals found to be in violation of our [data-protection] procedures."

We're sure TSA workers feel safer already... kinda like passengers do, when they go through security screening at the airport...

FMI: www.tsa.gov, www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/idtheft