Veterans Medical Records Exposed

 

In recent years many organizations faced desperate needs to protect their computer network infrastructure from cyberattacks, vulnerabilities, and hackers. No organization, including the private sector or government, is exempted from such a problem. Protecting any organization's network infrastructure is a big job that requires around the clock monitoring and keeping up and deploying the newest security technology within the network structure for protection.

Many organizations like to cut cost corners and not keep up with the latest technology to help protect their network infrastructure from cyberattacks, vulnerabilities, and hackers until a problem occurs. Also, it is critical to monitor the organization's network infrastructure frequently around the clock for any suspicious activities. Any suspicious activities should be investigated immediately to determine their status. The quicker you act, the better it will be for you if the organization's network infrastructure is attacked by vulnerabilities or hackers seeking to steal data or destroy your network.

According to the Military Times, the (VA) Veteran Administration was attacked by cyber activities and exposed 46000 veterans' records, including their social security numbers, home address, medical status, and other important information. The Veteran Administration is not sure of the period and how long the breach took place (Shane, 2020, para. 1). The VA management notified the affected veterans of the violation and offered security monitoring to them and their family members listed in the veteran medical record. They described the incident as limited but concerning for the veterans involved.

The VA officials stated that a review indicated that the intruder gained access to the financial information to divert veterans' payments from VA using engineering techniques to exploit authentication protocols. The Department of Veteran Administration officials did not indicate what may have been stolen or how long the system exploit took place. The VA officials stated that most of the veteran's records involved are deceased veterans. Officials said in those cases, the next of kin would be notified of the problem. This problem is not the first time veterans at the Veteran Administration had their personal information exposed by the VA (Shane, 2020, para. 3).

I have learned that the Veteran Administration has a long history of hiring technology contractors to monitor the network infrastructure to cut costs. This practice has cost the VA network infrastructure to be breached many times, and it costs the American taxpayers grief and heart acks in return.  Over the years, the VA has been struggling to retain qualified technology staff members and has turned to contractors to operating their network infrastructure. This is not a good practice to have a nonsworn individual work on such sensitive infrastructure. Most contractors companies have such a high turnover rate, and new contractors coming infrequently, and many are frequently leaving.

The VA must handle this problem and overhaul its technology division to bring in qualified technology members to run its network infrastructure and limit contractor's roles. The veterans are already going through enough problems and health problems; they don't need to VA to add on issues or contribute to the stress they are already dealing with from the beginning. Me as a veteran, I firsthand know what many other veterans are going through. The quality of life means everything to have a good day without added stress. I hope soon; the VA considers overhauling its whole infrastructure to provide better care for the veterans and protect them from harm.

References

Shane, L. (2020, September 14). Attack on VA computer systems exposed personal information of about 46,000 veterans. Military Times. Retrieved April 27, 2021, from https://www.militarytimes.com/news/2020/09/14/attack-on-va-computer-systems-exposed-personal-information-of-about-46000-veterans/