In the last year, the federal government has faced an unprecedented number of security challenges, including theft of employee data, national security secrets, and insecure voting machines. While Inspectors’ General offices have been pointing out these types of security threats for years, they are raising the volume in the hopes that quicker action will be taken before something catastrophic happens.
Consider these three examples in just the last month:
- The VA OIG told Congress that agency’s data “may not be safe in terms of confidentiality, integrity and availability.” More importantly, he pointed out that this finding has been reported every year since 2000. He then condemned the VA’s “exceedingly slow page of progress.”
- The HHS OIG said that “department continues to face challenges in effectively using data to detect and prevent improper payments and to ensure safety and quality of care for program beneficiaries.” It also said corrective actions planned by the agency did not comply with Medicare requirements, and as a result they would still be unable to identify all improper payments made to providers.
- The DHS OIG blamed a backlog of more than 1.2 million visa overstay cases in part on the use of 27 different systems to track visas, which it said need to be modernized and de-duplicated.
Technology systems are unfortunately only as strong as the weakest link, and with so many dated systems in place, the federal government is among the most likely to be running out-of-date software and operating systems. The threat of data security is both internal and external – there have been many instances recently of federal employees misappropriating information available to them by virtue of their position. This means that a firm understanding of technology, and misuse of technology, is becoming more important to auditors and investigators alike.
To learn about how our actively-developed case management software, CMTS, can help your investigative agency align its people, policies and workflows, contact WingSwept at 919-600-5102 or email us at Team_WingSwept@WingSwept.com.
