VA Inspector General blasts agency’s actions, policies
HIPAA Weekly Advisor, July 17, 2006
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Information security officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) acted with "indifference and little sense of urgency or responsibility" to reports of the recent data theft that put over 26 million veterans at risk of identity theft, according to a new document issued by the VA's Office of Inspector General.
The report also places blame on the data analyst who took the information home for exercising poor judgment. The employee used the data to work on a survey project that started in 2003 but that he didn't work on at all in 2006. The VA employee could have prevented the theft if he did not take the security of the data for granted, the report said.
The Inspector General also concluded that the VA's revised information security policies enacted in the wake of the incident are inadequate.
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