VA facility launches unauthorized cloud services

Monday, December 27, 2010

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently submitted a report to Congress, detailing a number of data security incidents discovered among its facilities in recent months.

The report highlights 11 incidents which the department investigated during November. Incidents range from low risk, such as a stolen computer from a Kansas City facility, to high risk, such as the exposure of patient information.

The most recent incident listed involved the Chicago Health Care Systems Orthopedics Department, which was found to be using an unauthorized cloud-based calender to share patient information between facilities.

According to the report, the calender, which was hosted by Yahoo, contained full names, dates and types of surgeries and partial Social Security numbers of 878 patients. The VA stated it has removed the calender and distributed letters of notification to all affected patients.

The Obama administration has been a major proponent of federal agencies adopting new technology that allows the government to spending less while boosting productivity. However, VA chief technology office Roger Baker told reporters the VA requires a higher level of security than most agencies.