WASHINGTON \u2014 Vietnam Veterans of America is suing the Defense Department for potentially exposing personal information of millions of current and former service members through lax oversight of its Servicemembers Civil Relief Act website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The federal lawsuit, filed in the U.S. Western District of New York Court on Tuesday morning, demands an overhaul of the site and additional protections for personal information of individuals in the department databases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBy making this private information freely accessible, the defendants are putting veterans at risk of impostor scams, identity theft, and other frauds,\u201d the lawsuit stated. \u201cDefendants are also depriving veterans their ability to control who learns sensitive details about their military service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In recent days, defense officials have announced planned changes to the site, including \u201cupdates to the website\u2019s code base\u201d to \u201cbetter protect servicemember active duty information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the lawsuit alleges the problems are fundamental to the set-up of the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Defense Department is fueling the problem by leaving veterans\u2019 private information easily accessible on the internet,\u201d said VVA President John Rowan in a statement. \u201c(Defense officials) have refused to properly secure veterans\u2019 information; we are asking a court to order them to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, the SCRA website allows any visitor to search through an individual\u2019s service records by providing their last name and either their birthdate or social security number. No restrictions are put on who can read the results, which VVA officials say makes the resource attractive to scammers and identity thieves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Thomas Barden, who is a party in the lawsuit, said online scammers used details from the site to win his trust, convince him to buy fraudulent computer security software and steal other financial records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe expect the military to protect our private information, not to leave it unsecured,\u201d Barden said in a statement. \u201cThe government should not be giving con artists easy access to information they can use to scam veterans like me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The lawsuit accuses defense officials of violating both the federal Privacy Act and the Federal Information Security Modernization Act, along with a host of industry best practices for personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
VVA officials are represented in the lawsuit by the Civil Liberties and Transparency Clinic of the University at Buffalo School of Law. The suit seeks at least $1,000 in damages for Barden along with fixes in the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n