GAO report hits HHS IT security flaws

• By Alice Lipowicz
• Mar 24, 2006

The Health and Human Services Department displays significant weaknesses in security controls for its computer systems, according to a new
report from the Government Accountability Office.

The Health and Human Services Department has numerous vulnerabilities in its IT systems related to access controls, the report said. The department is responsible for Medicare, Medicaid, public health and hospital oversight, health research and medical planning, and operations for homeland security and disaster response,

The weak points are related to network management, user accounts and passwords, use rights and file permissions, auditing and monitoring of security-related events, and such controls on physical access as performance of background checks.

The key reason for the problems is that the department and its operating divisions have not yet implemented a departmentwide information security program, GAO found.

Alice Lipowicz is a staff writer for Government Computer News' sister publication, Washington Technology.