TSA employees sue over data breach

The Transportation Security Administration’s recent loss of a hard drive containing the records of 100,000 employees has raised the eyebrows of privacy experts nationwide, and now a judge may a have a chance to join them in their dismay. The union representing TSA employees filed a class action lawsuit this week against the agency for violating the Privacy Act and the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, which requires TSA to ensure adequate security at airports. (Exactly whether that law strictly applies to internal personnel issues reamins uncertain.) “A Department of Homeland Security agency that cannot even shield its own employee data is not reassuring,” said John Gage of the American Federation of Government Employees. According to AP, the suit asks the court to “order TSA to take new security measures consistent with those laws, including encrypting personnel data and installing electronic monitoring on any mobile equipment that stores personnel information.” The suit also asks the agency to grant administrative leave to any employee who needs to take time off work to defend themselves against identifty theft related to the TSA breach. TSA has already offered employees a year of free credit monitoring, ID theft insurance, and asssistance from identity restoration experts.