An information technology specialist at the Veterans Affairs Department misled investigators in an attempt to cover up the extent of a data breach early this year that jeopardized personal information on more than a million people, according to a recent audit report.
In an interview with auditors, the specialist gave inaccurate information about the Jan. 22 loss of an external computer hard drive from VA's Birmingham, Ala., research facility, the report from the department's inspector general stated. The information ended up in a press release about the incident, the investigators found.
The specialist also encrypted and deleted multiple files from his computer shortly after he reported the data missing, making it more difficult to determine what was stored on his desktop, the IG said. He initially denied this when confronted by investigators, the report said. But an IG computer forensic analysis prompted him to admit to taking actions to hide the extent of the missing data.
As of February, the IT specialist, who was not named in the report, had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The VA did not respond to requests for an update Monday on the specialist's employment status.
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