Does the government do a good job in protecting your personal data? CNN's Jeanne Meserve reports.

Details of your medical history, and work record, financial transactions, your social security number, travel history, the kind of personal information entered into government databases.

How often do prying eyes look at it?

It's a handful each year that we know about. Now, of course there is always possibility that there are some that you don’t know about.

Very possible, a report card on government computer security, issued last year, failed the State Department and 7 other federal agencies, the government-wide grade, C-minus.

Some agencies have made improving security a priority. The Veterans Administration was red-faced when personal information of more than 26 million beneficiaries was compromised in 2006.

Now, all medical information in its files is encrypted and customized, thumb drives can only be read on authorized computers. Other government agencies have privacy officers who are supposed to police the use and disclosure of personal information.

Many agencies require employees and contractors undergo privacy training and sign privacy pledges. Many have computer systems designed to detect unauthorized snooping in files. Of course, the State Department had all these and still files were breached.

The fact that it happened to 3 of the highest-profile people in America shouldn't be taken as a, as an indicator this only happens to the powerful. It happens to ordinary Americans, it just doesn’t get the same sort of attention.

And Steinhardt says if it happens to you, it is very likely, you will never find out.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

WORDS IN THE NEWS

1. report card : n-count

A report card is an official written account of how well or how badly a pupil has done during the term or year that has just finished. (AM; in BRIT, use report)

2. Veterans Administration : (美国)退伍军人管理局

VA is an independent federal agency administering benefits and programs to veterans; it achieved cabinet‐level status as the Department of Veterans Affairs in 1988. Established by Congress in 1930, the VA absorbed three separate agencies: the Bureau of Pensions, established in 1833; the National Homes of Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, founded in 1866; and the Veteran's Bureau, created in 1921.

3. red-faced : adj

A red-faced person has a face that looks red, often because they are embarrassed or angry.

4. encrypt : verb

If a document or piece of information is encrypted, it is written in a special code, so that only certain people can read it.

5. thumb drive : noun　可移动硬盘、U盘、闪盘

USB drive, A flash memory card that plugs into the computer's USB port. Small enough to hook onto a keychain, it emulates a small disk drive and allows data to be easily transferred from one machine to another. Also known as a "flash drive," "pen drive," "keychain drive," "key drive," "USB key," "USB stick" and "memory key," numerous brand names have also been coined such as Lexar's JumpDrive and Trek 2000 International's ThumbDrive.