Back in June

the personal information of almost 28,000 sailors and their family members was

exposed on an insecure website—five spreadsheets in all, containing data

including names, dates of birth and most importantly Social Security numbers

(the starting point for most identity thieves). 

In July it was

reported that personal data of more than 100,000 sailors was found on a

website.  The latest breach

(in which details of 31,000 Navy recruiters and their prospective recruits have

been compromised) comes with the theft of two laptops from Navy offices in New Jersey.

Obviously the theft of personal data is rife and incidents

are increasing by the day but I find it quite disconcerting that Government and

Military agencies of the most powerful country in the world seem unable to keep

their data secure—if they can’t do it then what chance does your average Joe

stand!  It does seem that efforts are

being made to stop these embarrassing breaches; last week the U.S. Army confirmed that it will

require new systems to use the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for

encryption/security.