- From: Legislative Update <legis@troa.org>
- To: <jwhalladay@msn.com>
- Subject: Special Legislative Alert 12_26_02
- Date: Thursday, December 26, 2002 11:12 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://tricare.osd.mil/newsreleases/2002/news0236.htm.
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. |