Tricare data breach affects 4,700 families

[Henry Brown <hbrown () knology net>]

http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2007/12/military_tricarebreach_071207w/

Tricare data breach affects 4,700 families

By Karen Jowers - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 7, 2007 16:19:05 EST

Letters are in the mail to about 4,700 households who submitted claims 
through the Tricare Europe office since 2004 about a data breach 
involving their personal information — a month after the breach was 
reported.

Most of those affected have since moved from Europe.

Electronic Data Systems notified Tricare on Nov. 7 that they had not 
properly secured a part of the system it maintains for Tricare, and 
“certain external entities” had been allowed access to a file with 
personal information.

That file contained full or partial Social Security numbers. For one or 
more members of each household, it included their name, date of birth, 
and a medical diagnosis code associated with a health benefits claim 
submitted to Tricare Management Activity.

“We don’t think this is a malicious intrusion,” said Julie Basa, a 
spokeswoman for EDS, an information technology company that supports a 
health benefits system for the Defense Department’s Tricare Management 
Activity. There has been no indication that any data has been misused, 
she said.

[...]

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