Friday, July 25, 2025

Evolving Cyber Threats Prompt Agencies including VA and CMS to Hone in on Data Security

“The COVID-19 pandemic increased the need for data sharing and security as agencies quickly pivoted to remote environments, and health officials say information sharing will remain a critical component in federal health care after the pandemic. With the increased data services, agencies are looking at a multi-tiered approach to technology to prevent unwanted access and intruders.”

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid has a robust set of policies to share data with the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In fact, CMS built dedicated servers for COVID analysis alone, said Andy Shatto, deputy director of CMS’ Office of Enterprise Data and Analytics, during FedInsider’s Enhancing Patient Data Sharing virtual event.”

“But during the pandemic, health data became increasingly susceptible to ransomware and data breaches — unleashing a new set of IT challenges. This prompted agencies like the Veterans Health Administration to implement new security protocols while ensuring data to still be readily available.”

“Joe Ronzio, deputy chief health technology officer at VHA, recommends federal health care officials start from a FISMA high data protection standard to eliminate vulnerabilities and increase security of sensitive federal information.”

“’Most people are coming in at the FISMA moderate level,’ Ronzio said. ‘That makes it very difficult for us to interoperate, as well as interact and purchase commercial-off-the-shelf software because we’re expecting a higher level of security…'” Read the full article here.

Source: Evolving Cyber Threats Prompt Agencies to Hone in on Data Security – By Sarah Sybert, June 3, 2021. GovernmentCIO.

[related-post]

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Innovation in Action: Advancing Government Health with Philips

FORUM is proud to partner with Philips for a series of articles on their groundbreaking innovations in health technology that serve public- and private sector citizens and service members. Please take a look to learn more about how Philips is advancing modern and efficient health care, while improving lives for generations to come.

Don’t Miss A Thing

Jackie Gilbert
Jackie Gilbert
Jackie Gilbert is a Content Analyst for FedHealthIT and Author of 'Anything but COVID-19' on the Daily Take Newsletter for G2Xchange Health and FedCiv.

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required