Missing computer containing sensitive VA data recovered
Federal officials do not think thief was targeting the data, but are checking to make sure no information was compromised.
A stolen desktop computer containing sensitive data on about 16,000 patients at Veterans Affairs Department medical centers has been recovered, and a suspect has been arrested, officials announced Thursday.
Washington, D.C., resident Khalil Abdullah-Raheem, 21, was charged in federal court Wednesday with the theft of government property and released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond, according to the VA Inspector General's Office.
Abdullah-Raheem was employed by a company that provides temporary labor to VA contractor Unisys Corp., the IG said. Unisys was hired to assist in insurance collections for various VA medical centers.
Officials do not believe Abdullah-Raheem targeted the data, but the FBI is conducting a forensics analysis to determine if the data was compromised. The computer, owned by Unisys, contained insurance claim information for about 16,000 living patients treated in VA medical centers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
VA Secretary James Nicholson praised the "diligent investigative work" of the IG and the FBI. Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Chairman Larry Craig, R-Idaho, called the recovery "a shining moment" for both organizations.
"This is the second time law enforcement has come through," Craig said. "Let's hope there is no need for a third time."
The computer was stolen from a Unisys facility in Reston, Va. According to Craig's office, Abdullah-Raheem was working there temporarily as a building maintenance employee. The company had been offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the equipment's recovery. Investigators think the computer was taken in order to record music, Craig said in a statement.
Since a separate early May incident endangering personal information on 26.5 million veterans, Nicholson has vowed to make VA's information security the best in the government by instituting a series of reforms of what critics say is a dysfunctional IT organization.
One month ago, the VA announced that it will begin encrypting all agency computers through a $3.7 million contract to Systems Made Simple Inc. in Syracuse, N.Y. All agency laptops were to be encrypted by Friday.
A department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on whether that deadline has been met.
Desktop computers are next on the list for encryption. The computer just recovered was not encrypted.