Walter Reed Army Medical Center announced that it was "investigating the possible disclosure of personal identifier information through unauthorized sharing of a data file containing the names of approximately one thousand Military Health System beneficiaries."

"Walter Reed officials were notified of the possible exposure on May 21 by an outside company. Preliminary results of an on-going investigation have identified a computer from which the data was apparently compromised. Data security personnel from Walter Reed and the Department of the Army continue to investigate the source and causes for the information compromise."

"The disclosure of this information raises the possibility that individuals named in the file could become victims of identity theft. ... The compromised data file did not include protected health information such as medical records, diagnosis or prognosis for patients."

The Army declined to say how it thinks the breach happened.

In other compromised personal data news, The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation admitted that back-up tapes of customer data were lost twice this year - once in February and again in April. The tapes contained information on over 4.5 million customers and 747 companies.

The bank, per usual, on top of apologizing has promised to improve its security of back-up tapes, will provide 2 years of two years of free credit monitoring, and provide identity theft insurance in the amount of $25,000, among other things.

Of course, the bank didn't say why it didn't take this action after the first tape was lost, but I bet you that the February event was seen by management as a low-probability "aberration" that couldn't possibly happen again.

Surprise!