The demands come following a News 3 investigation into an incident in April where a Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs employee, using a federal VA.gov email address, sent an email with the Social Security numbers of hundreds of Wisconsin veterans to a random citizen. News 3 has learned the email that contained the disability claims of Wisconsin veterans was sent unredacted and unencrypted at least three other times since June 2014 to people who weren’t authorized by the VA to view that material….
“I am concerned that the federal VA seems to lack proper information technology and software protocols to protect veterans’ private health information,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wrote in a statement to News 3 [pdf]. “I am particularly concerned that this seemingly isolated incident in Wisconsin could potentially be part of a much larger nationwide problem.”
….”Our office has raised a number of questions with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Secretary Robert McDonald about the VA’s implementation of tools to protect veterans’ personally identifiable information,” wrote Meghan Roh, spokeswoman for Sen. Tammy Baldwin, (D-Wis.), in an email to News 3 [pdf]. “We look forward to getting answers from the VA so that veterans can be assured the VA is doing everything possible to protect their private information from unintended disclosure.”
Johnson gave VA staff until Nov. 11 to respond to numerous questions. He said the issue fell under the purview of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that he heads…..
Via Wis. senators demand answers from VA over privacy breach @ WISC-TV 3 Channel3000.com