Data is safe so long as we
don't have builders in
Redfaced administrators from the US National
Archives have admitted that they have lost a computer hard drive containing
massive amounts of sensitive data from the Clinton administration era.
This
data includes Social Security numbers, addresses, and Secret Service and White
House operating procedures, congressional officials.
The drive is missing
from the Archives facility in College Park, which is a Washington suburb. It was
noticed gone in March and contained 1 terabyte of data. This was heavy data and
unlikely to be Bill's porn collection.
Senators are fuming that such a huge
breach of national security could happen and are asking tough questions such as
"what is the capital of Rwanda?" and "how was this hard drive removed from the
building when you claim to have any security?" The drive was in a "secure"
storage area but it was moved to a workspace while it was in use. While it was
there more than 100 people would have access to the area.
This included
janitors, visitors, interns, terrorists and others who had just drifted through
the area on their way to somewhere more interesting. We made the terrorist bit
up.
However lately the site also had a few builders in who needed to pass
through on their way to the toilet so really the numbers of people who could
have stolen the hard-drive is huge.
The Department of Justice and the
Secret Service but they have not yet determined if the loss was the result of
theft or if the hard-drive detached itself from the computer, boarded a plane to
Cuba where it defected.