“For years, VA has struggled to secure its IT systems, with cybersecurity appearing as a persistent weakness in inspectors’ reports.”
“The department has said it believes that one of the steps toward making progress is addressing the buildup of outdated technology and software, or “technical debt,” that VA has accrued over the decades. VA estimates the total cost of fixing that current debt at $1.3 billion.”
“In June, VA announced that it would begin tackling that debt for the first time, building dedicated funding into the VA budget to do so. However, legislators expressed doubts about VA’s long-term ability to see that effort to completion. ”
“Fueling those doubts is a recent VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) report that focused on a VA clinic that was unable to accurately identify system weaknesses or even provide a complete inventory of its own computer equipment. Also giving the legislators pause is yet another new person in the VA Chief Information Officer (CIO) role—the ninth since 2009 and the fifth in the last five years.”
“’I’m concerned about VA’s ability to protect the information of veterans, as well as to prevent disruptions in service,’ declared Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-IN) at a House VA Subcommittee on Technology Modernization hearing last month.”
“Asked how VA plans to pay for the elimination of its technical debt over the long-term, Todd Simpson, VA’s deputy assistant secretary of DevSecOps, told Mrvan and the subcommittee that the only way to achieve the goal was by steady effort and by regularly adding funding for that effort into VA’s base budget…” Read the full article here.
Source: VA Efforts to Secure Its IT System Hampered by Congressional Doubts – By Stephen Spotswood, November 15, 2021. U.S. Medicine.
