Inspection of Information Security at the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System

The VA Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducts information security inspections to assess whether VA facilities are meeting federal security requirements. They are typically conducted at selected facilities that have not been assessed in the sample for the annual audit required by the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) or at facilities that previously performed poorly. The OIG selected the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System because it had not been previously visited as part of the annual FISMA audit. The OIG’s information security inspections focus on three control areas that apply to local facilities and have been selected based on their levels of risk: configuration management, security management, and access controls. During this inspection, the OIG found deficiencies in all three areas. Deficiencies in configuration management included previously unidentified critical vulnerabilities, uninstalled patches, and network operating systems no longer supported by the vendor—all of which could deprive users of reliable access to information and could risk unauthorized access to, or the alteration or destruction of, critical systems. The OIG identified almost twice as many devices on the network than the inventory listed, which constitutes a security management weakness. Weak access controls included missing video surveillance at a data center, inadequate fire-detection and suppression equipment, insufficient water sensors and climate controls, unmounted or stacked network equipment, and communications rooms without backup power supplies. The OIG made six recommendations to the assistant secretary for information and technology and chief information officer to improve controls at the healthcare system because they are related to enterprise-wide information security issues similar to those identified on previous FISMA audits and information security inspections. The OIG also made five recommendations to the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System director.