Human error strikes the VA system again. Seth Tupper reports that someone at the VA Black Hills Health Care System mistakenly dumped a box containing 1,100 veterans’ files into a dumpster on May 15. The error occurred during an office move (a problem we’ve seen before in other cases).
Thankfully, the employee’s error was caught by another employee who noticed the box in the dumpster on May 17 and retrieved the box. The VA announced the incident in a press release on Friday. The text of that release can be found on KOTA TV’s web site. According to the release, the type of information in the files included full name, Social Security number, phone number, and address.
Letters were sent to those affected on Wednesday. Tupper reports:
Asked why the VA waited more than two months after the incident to inform veterans, Forbes said, “VA Black Hills worked within the time frames set by our policies to ensure the investigation was thorough, all affected veterans were identified, and resources put in place to assist veterans.”
The Journal obtained copies of the letters sent to veterans. The three options proposed to those concerned about the privacy of their information are to obtain an annual free credit report from one of the three national credit-reporting agencies; to enroll in a 1-year, no-charge identity theft monitoring service operated by a VA corporate partner; or to request that a fraud alert be added to their credit report, which the VA acknowledged “could also delay the process when you seek to obtain credit.”
Those options are standard VA response when SSN are involved.
Read more on Rapid City Journal.