Letter From NARA

[beowulf]

Just received a letter from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) informing me that they lost an external hard drive and that my SSN and other personal info may have been compromised. Of course they have no evidence that anything was done with the info and have no idea where the drive is. They offer a year of free credit monitoring through Experian.

Anyone else get one of these?

BTW, this has happened before with other federal agencies.

 

[W2R]

Just received a letter from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) informing me that they lost an external hard drive and that my SSN and other personal info may have been compromised. Of course they have no evidence that anything was done with the info and have no idea where the drive is. They offer a year of free credit monitoring through Experian.

Anyone else get one of these?

BTW, this has happened before with other federal agencies.

It happened with my (former) federal agency a few years ago. The number of people whose personal info was lost, was tremendous. Also, they weren't sure that the info had actually been stolen - - it just couldn't be found. Maybe it was just misplaced. Sounds like the same story you are getting. We, too, were offered a year of free credit monitoring. I figured the chances of anything bad occurring were not great, so I didn't even bother to get the free credit monitoring. Nothing bad happened.

 

[KB]

I got a similar letter from a previous employer and chose to accept the monitoring from Experian. Same thing with records including SS# being compromised. It's been almost a year and I have not had any problems. I get an email if anything shows up on my credit report (the only things that showed were things I had initiated) and a monthly report as well. Unfortunately this is becoming more common.

 

[harley]

Actually, this happens nearly every other day either in gov't or private industry. Security...it's sort of like in the Princess Bride . "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

It's been nearly a year since they realized the drive was missing. I suspect any damage that would have been done has already happened. Nice of them to let everybody know, though.

 

[donheff]

Actually, this happens nearly every other day either in gov't or private industry. Security...it's sort of like in the Princess Bride . "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

It's been nearly a year since they realized the drive was missing. I suspect any damage that would have been done has already happened. Nice of them to let everybody know, though.

+1

It happens so frequently I begin to wonder whether Experian and some of the others don't pay people to "lose" drives and "find" exploited holes just to push business their way. SSNs are floating around like confetti. You can get anyone's SSN and other personal info for $15 over the Internet. We should all assume that our personal info can be had if someone wants it. If you are extremely concerned you should have the credit bureaus block new credit in your name.

 

[beowulf]

I'll probably take advantage of the credit monitoring = it's FREEEEEEEEE

Same thing happened with my credit union a few years ago and I took the offer - no problems, but it was nice to get that monthly "nothing new" e-mail.