ISS says VA hired it to analyze stolen data
A company spokeswoman did not specify the work Internet Security Systems is performing, citing the sensitive nature of the data involved.
Internet Security Systems (ISS) said the Department of Veterans Affairs has hired it to conduct forensic analysis of data containing records on 28.5 million veterans and potentially more than 1 million active military personnel that was stolen from an employee’s home last month.
An ISS spokeswoman declined to provide any details of the work the company is performing for the VA because of the sensitive nature of the data involved.
On June 9, VA Secretary Jim Nicholson told the House Government Reform Committee that the department had hired a company he had misidentified as ISS to analyze the data contained on the disks stolen from the home of a VA data analyst in May.
Nicholson said in a press release the VA distributed June 3 that the department hired its own independent data forensic experts to analyze the original data the analyst copied and took home.
The VA’s public affairs department has not responded to requests from Federal Computer Week to identify the forensic data analysis firm it hired and the kind of work the company is performing.