Fergie's Tech Blog

GAO Study: Veterans Personal Data Still At Risk

An AP newswire article by Hope Yen, via Military.com, reports that:

Veterans' personal data and health information remain at risk of identity theft because the Veterans Affairs Department has yet to implement several safety measures, government investigators say.

The report by the Government Accountability Office, released Wednesday, comes more than one year after the VA pledged renewed security efforts after the loss of personal information for 26.5 million veterans and active-duty personnel.

It found that the VA had not yet fully secured access to its computer network and department facilities nor worked to ensure that only authorized changes and updates to VA computer programs were made.

Moreover, the VA has operated without a chief information security officer since June 2006 to oversee changes and still lacks clear and adequate procedures for quickly notifying veterans when their sensitive data is lost, the report said.

posted by Fergie @ 9/19/2007 03:00:00 PM