VA officials faced some severe criticism from members of Congress last week after admitting that the agency's IT security still leaves much to be desired. Under fire last week at a hearing of the House Veterans Affairs oversight committee, the officials confessed that they're basically not in control of the situation. Not only has the VA's data security been breached repeatedly, officials don't know how a recent breach in Birmingham, AL took place and still haven't informed all of the providers affected by the security lapse, they conceded.
Both Democrats and Republicans have come down hard on VA management, upset that improved security measures haven't already been implemented. Despite the string of high-profile data losses and thefts, most VA data still isn't encrypted, nor are officials sure of how many vulnerable laptops are in play across the system. Officials have said that the problems would be addressed, but warned that it would take time to smoke out problems across the agency's massive infrastructure.
To find out more about the data security latest criticisms:
- read this Associated Press piece