TRICARE data exposed

Data for nearly 600,000 households enrolled in TRICARE stored on a government-contractor's unprotected computer server could have been exposed to hackers, Defense officials announced July 20.

"We take this potential data compromise very seriously," said Army Maj. Gen. Elder Granger, deputy director, TRICARE Management Activity. "The risk has been identified as low, but as a result of this unfortunate event, the Department of Defense is ensuring that steps are taken to keep affected beneficiaries informed."

Beneficiaries' names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates and some health information was stored on a computer server that was not using a firewall and did not have adequate password protection, TRICARE Management Activity officials said.