MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENTS BECOME VICTIMS OF AN ON LINE DATA BREACH

        The Social Security numbers of 31 Army Medal of Honor recipients were accidentally posted on line by a Pentagon employee.  The Los Angeles Times reported last week that the personal information was removed from the internet after the breach was discovered by a well known military historian.  The Social Security numbers appear to have been publically available for a extended period of time.   The information included Social Security numbers along with the recipients names, ranks, units and narratives of their battlefield heroics. 

         This data breach serves as another reminder to business entities and their insurers that many data breaches occur not as a result of malicious hacking or malware but, instead, through accidental or negligent actions by businesses’ own employees.  Insureds and Insurers must remain vigilant and constantly review their on line data to ensure that personal identifiable information is not improperly disclosed.