Report: Staff Errors, Other Issues Resulted in Data Breaches at Five HHS Divisions Over Past Three Years

Data breaches have occurred in at least five divisions of HHS -- including CMS and NIH -- over the last three years, according to a report released last week by members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. The breaches were caused by security issues, such as staff errors, misconfigurations and failure to install critical software patches. The committee recommended that HHS revoke the security-related responsibilities of its CIOs and move chief information security officers to the general counsel.

• "HHS Hacked Five Times in Three Years" (Bennett, The Hill, 8/7).
• "House Panel: HHS' Lawyers Could Secure IT Networks Better Than its CIOs" (Kopp, Federal News Radio, 8/7).