VA Security Breachs Posted Online

How do these mis-mailing tie in with VA's presumption of regularity", one wonders if these reports would of helped during the illegal shredding of Veterans documents.


103 mis-mailing incidents in July vs. 119 in June, in which a veteran was sent the wrong information or was sent the information of other veterans

Full Article at: VA begins posting security breach reports online
By Mary Mosquera
Friday, August 13, 2010

"VA must notify Congress monthly about both routine and major data breaches, a requirement imposed in the aftermath of several security break-downs during the past year.

The public can now see those reports for itself, as the VA began on August. 11 to post them on the VA’s Web site: http://www4.va.gov/about_va/va_notices.asp

“We gain a lot with transparency,” Baker said about making the report public. “When you see what normally happens and how they are handled, it lends a bit of confidence what we’re going to do when more serious ones occur,” he said.

For example, losing smart phones is a common security problem at VA, as it is elsewhere. In July, employees lost 13 Blackberry smartphones compared with 24 missing in June, he said."

"VA also has a policy of encrypting mobile devices to reduce the potential for the disclosure of personal information by making the device unusable when they are lost or stolen."

In addition to the lost Blackberries, VA also reported this month:

-- 66 internal unencrypted email incidents in July vs. 74 in June in which employees did not follow VA policy to encrypt emails that contained sensitive patient information;

-- 103 mis-mailing incidents in July vs. 119 in June, in which a veteran was sent the wrong information or was sent the information of other veterans;