Fergie's Tech Blog

Bush Signs VA Bill That Guards Sensitive Data

Mary Mosquera writes on Washington Technology:

President Bush signed into law a $3.2 billion bill that will improve veterans’ benefits, health care, the security of their sensitive data and, when it occurs, its response to a comprehensive breach.

The Veterans Benefits, Health Care and Information Technology Act of 2006, S. 3421, directs the Veterans Affairs Department to notify veterans promptly in the case of a data breach and to provide fraud alerts, data breach analysis, reports to Congress, credit monitoring and identity theft insurance. The bill also supports an Information Security Education Assistance program, an incentive to give VA the ability to recruit personnel with the IT skills necessary to meet department requirements.

The legislation is the result of the theft in May of a VA laptop that contained the personal information of millions of veterans. It was the government’s largest data security breach.

The bill’s provisions follow on VA’s decision to completely centralize its IT environment, including enforcement of data security.

posted by Fergie @ 12/27/2006 10:50:00 AM