Ebenefits Security Breach

[Loose Cannon]

MOORE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Navy veteran Sylvester Woodland said he couldn't believe what he was seeing Wednesday night when he logged onto the Veteran Affairs' E-Benefits website.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/html5/video?id=9396431&pid=null§ion=null

"It gave me a different person's name, each and every time I came back," Woodland said. At first I thought it was just a glitch, but the more I thought about it, I said, wait a minute, this is more than a glitch, this is a breach."

Woodland was on the VA's E-Benefits website trying to track down his own history for a bank loan. Instead, windows kept popping up displaying other veterans' medical and financial information.

"When you click on these hyperlinks here, it takes you to the bank account, the direct deposit, bank account, last four, what bank is it for," Woodland said. "I'll bet he has no idea that I'm sitting here in my house with his information."

Woodland said he called the Department of Defense, the VA, and Senator Kay Hagan's office, but he didn't get any response until Thursday morning. Then, the website went down and an email came from the DOD asking him to scan the few pages he printed out and email them over.

"Already I see the blame game going. It's the VA. No, it's the DOD. It's going to bounce back and forth, but can you prove it's an isolated incident?" Woodland said.

Woodland wonders if the breech was internal or intentional and worries that there is not enough being done to find out the answers.

"I don't want these veterans' private information to continue to bounce around out there in no man's land," he said.

The VA said they are aware of the situation and told ABC11 they will send a response at a later time. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense was unable to provide any answers.

[Loose Cannon]

"The VA said they are aware of the situation and told ABC11 they will send a response at a later time."

Is it just me or does anyone else think the above statement sounds EXACTLY like an IRIS response from the VA?? If this wasn't so scary...it would be amusing.

Not going to cut it VA...not this time!

LC

[aggie54]

Speechless.

[Loose Cannon]

I'm beginning to wonder why this hasn't made the national news yet. Starting to believe the opinion of others...that we vets make up the 1% of the population so nobody gives a crap. Very depressing but I'll try to keep an open mind and give it more time.

Meanwhile, who knows what damage has already been done? The VA's silence is deafening! Don't know what else to say.

Stay tuned, I guess.

LC

[Loose Cannon]

As if this whole BS couldn't get any worse...Just went to the VBA webpage thinking they may have posted something on the homepage to alert vets, etc. about the breach. NOTHING at all in the way of a notification or warning!

http://benefits.va.gov/benefits/

Instead, as of 10:05am on 1/17/2013, they actually are running ads right on their homepage plugging the eBenefits site!!!!

Someone needs to be held accountable. I've been up most of the night trying to get some real answers and so far the only "public" assistance has been from my local ABC11 investigative reporters. Shame on the VA.

Gonna try and catch a few hours of shut-eye now. Hope to learn more later.

LC

P.S.- They may have taken their website down but still should've put out a notification in my opinion.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Loose Cannon

[Loose Cannon]

Some report eBenefits site is up again. Visit at your own risk folks.

UPDATE fyi...the FBI office in Charlotte, NC will be working & investigating everyone's tips. The facts will come out.

LC