House Commerce Leaders Seek GAO Review of HHS Cyber Incident Response Capability

Review the Department of Health and Human Services' cyber incident response capabilities, a bipartisan group of Commerce leaders told GAO. "Protecting HHS computing operations during the pandemic response is paramount to the nation’s security, economic well-being, and public trust," said a Friday letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro from House Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., and ranking member Greg Walden, R-Ore., along with Oversight Subcommittee Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and ranking member Brett Guthrie, R-Ky. HHS Chief Information Security Officer Janet Vogel "recently acknowledged that the ongoing COVID-19 public health crisis has placed a new target on HHS, and malicious actors have boosted their efforts to infiltrate the agency and access sensitive data," the lawmakers said. "In addition, it was reported in March 2020 that HHS suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system ... [that] was part of a campaign of disruption and disinformation that was aimed at undermining the response to the coronavirus pandemic and may have been the work of a foreign actor."