thedrifter
12-27-02, 07:41 AM
This is a TROA Special Legislative Alert for Thursday, December 26, 2002.
Theft of TRICARE Personal Information Announced
The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced a computer theft of the personal information of TRICARE beneficiaries serviced by the TRICARE Central Region health contractor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., headquartered in Phoenix Arizona. The computer files were stolen on December 14, 2002. On December 23, DoD requested TROA and other military service organizations to alert their members of this incident.
The theft involves the personal identification information of an unknown number of active duty and retiree TRICARE Prime enrollees. There is no indication that other regions in the TRICARE system have been compromised. The Defense Criminal
Investigative Service and the FBI are investigating the crime.
TriWest has indicated it will be contacting its TRICARE Prime enrollees to advise them that, "Although we do not know the intent of the crime or if any of the information will ever be accessed or misused, we want to advise you that the theft of your personal information, to include your Social Security Account Number (SSAN), may potentially place you at risk for identity theft." DoD has ordered other TRICARE contractors to assess their own security measures, in the hope of preventing future thefts.
The DoD TRICARE Management Authority issued a news release on the incident
on 23 December: http://www.tricare.osd.mil/ The
release contains an email address, computertheft@triwest.com, and a toll-free
number for potentially affected beneficiaries in the TRICARE Central Region to contact: 1-888-339-9378.
The TRICARE Central Region includes the states of Colorado, Idaho, Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and extreme west Texas. A map
of the TRICARE Central Region can be found at
http://www.tricare.osd.mil/beneficiary/.
The Federal Trade Commission Web site offers valuable information to help
citizens confronted with identity theft: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/.
TROA is deeply troubled by this serious breach of personal information security.
Identity theft is a serious crime. We will closely monitor the TRICARE
Management Authority's follow-up on this very unfortunate situation. The
Defense Criminal Investigative Service, FBI and other law enforcement agencies must do all they can to prevent the unauthorized use of the stolen information and ensure that security measures are strengthened to preclude a similar event in the TRICARE Central Region or elsewhere in the TRICARE system.
Subscription Information
To subscribe/unsubscribe or change your email address for the legislative update, please go to https://www.troa.org/SignIn.asp?chrMessageCode=signin&loginpage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etroa%2Eorg%2Femail%2F Default%2Easp If you are a TROA member you will need your membership number to sign in to the site. If you are NOT a TROA member, and you have not already completed the guest form and received a customer number, please go to the Guest Form and provide the requested information on the "Sign Up" page to receive your customer number before signing in to the site. If you have created a guest record you will need to go back to the original page and sign in to the Member/Guest sign in page to complete the process.
If you have questions regarding the content (ONLY) of the update, please send an email to legis@troa.org (subscriptions and changes will NOT be processed through this address).
Copyright (c) 2002, The Retired Officers Association (TROA), all rights reserved. Part or all of this message may be retransmitted for information purposes, but may not be used for any commercial purpose or in any commercial product, posted on a Web site, or used in any non-TROA publication (other than that of a TROA affiliate, or a member of The Military Coalition) without the written permission of TROA. All retransmissions, postings, and publications of this message must include this notice.
Sempers,
Roger
Theft of TRICARE Personal Information Announced
The Department of Defense (DoD) has announced a computer theft of the personal information of TRICARE beneficiaries serviced by the TRICARE Central Region health contractor, TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., headquartered in Phoenix Arizona. The computer files were stolen on December 14, 2002. On December 23, DoD requested TROA and other military service organizations to alert their members of this incident.
The theft involves the personal identification information of an unknown number of active duty and retiree TRICARE Prime enrollees. There is no indication that other regions in the TRICARE system have been compromised. The Defense Criminal
Investigative Service and the FBI are investigating the crime.
TriWest has indicated it will be contacting its TRICARE Prime enrollees to advise them that, "Although we do not know the intent of the crime or if any of the information will ever be accessed or misused, we want to advise you that the theft of your personal information, to include your Social Security Account Number (SSAN), may potentially place you at risk for identity theft." DoD has ordered other TRICARE contractors to assess their own security measures, in the hope of preventing future thefts.
The DoD TRICARE Management Authority issued a news release on the incident
on 23 December: http://www.tricare.osd.mil/ The
release contains an email address, computertheft@triwest.com, and a toll-free
number for potentially affected beneficiaries in the TRICARE Central Region to contact: 1-888-339-9378.
The TRICARE Central Region includes the states of Colorado, Idaho, Iowa,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota,
Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and extreme west Texas. A map
of the TRICARE Central Region can be found at
http://www.tricare.osd.mil/beneficiary/.
The Federal Trade Commission Web site offers valuable information to help
citizens confronted with identity theft: http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/.
TROA is deeply troubled by this serious breach of personal information security.
Identity theft is a serious crime. We will closely monitor the TRICARE
Management Authority's follow-up on this very unfortunate situation. The
Defense Criminal Investigative Service, FBI and other law enforcement agencies must do all they can to prevent the unauthorized use of the stolen information and ensure that security measures are strengthened to preclude a similar event in the TRICARE Central Region or elsewhere in the TRICARE system.
Subscription Information
To subscribe/unsubscribe or change your email address for the legislative update, please go to https://www.troa.org/SignIn.asp?chrMessageCode=signin&loginpage=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Etroa%2Eorg%2Femail%2F Default%2Easp If you are a TROA member you will need your membership number to sign in to the site. If you are NOT a TROA member, and you have not already completed the guest form and received a customer number, please go to the Guest Form and provide the requested information on the "Sign Up" page to receive your customer number before signing in to the site. If you have created a guest record you will need to go back to the original page and sign in to the Member/Guest sign in page to complete the process.
If you have questions regarding the content (ONLY) of the update, please send an email to legis@troa.org (subscriptions and changes will NOT be processed through this address).
Copyright (c) 2002, The Retired Officers Association (TROA), all rights reserved. Part or all of this message may be retransmitted for information purposes, but may not be used for any commercial purpose or in any commercial product, posted on a Web site, or used in any non-TROA publication (other than that of a TROA affiliate, or a member of The Military Coalition) without the written permission of TROA. All retransmissions, postings, and publications of this message must include this notice.
Sempers,
Roger