Lab Assignment
Case Study on U.S. Veterans Affairs and Loss of Privacy Information.
Overview
In this lab, you reviewed a real-world case study that involved the loss of privacy information, and you analyzed what violations occurred, the implications of those violations, and the possible mitigation remedies that could prevent future violations.
Lab Assessment Questions & Answers
1. What is the difference between privacy law and information systems security? How are they related?
2. Was the employee justified in taking home official data? Why or why not?
3. What are the possible consequences associated with the data loss?
4. Regarding the loss of privacy data, was there any data containing protected health information (PHI) making this a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance violation?
5. What action can the agency take against the employee concerned?
6. Would the response of the agency have been different had the data theft occurred at work instead of happening at the employee's residence? Why or why not?
7. Why were the VA data analyst's two supervisors reprimanded and demoted by the VA secretary? Do you think this was justified? Why or why not?
8. What was violated in this data breach?
9. If the database had been encrypted because of VA policy, would this data loss issue even have been an issue? Why or why not?
10. What risk mitigation or security control recommendations would you suggest to prevent this from occurring again?
11. What information systems security and privacy security policies do you think would help mitigate this breach and loss of privacy data?
12. What or who was the weakest link in this chain of security and protection of privacy data?
13. If the VA had performed a security and information assurance audit for compliance, what could the VA do on an annual basis to help mitigate this type of loose policy conformance?
14. True or false: U.S. taxpayers ended up paying for this VA security breach, notifications, and post- mortem damage control.
15. Which organization in the U.S. federal government is responsible for performing audits on other U.S. federal government agencies? (Hint: It is also known as the "Congressional Watchdog.")
Format your assignment according to the following formatting requirements:
1. The answer should be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
2. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student's name, the course title, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
3. Also include a reference page. The Citations and references should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.