The Latest in IT Security

Washington lawmakers today asked for a more thorough review of a security attack against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year, which resulted in compromised data. Now five Republican members from the US Energy and Commerce committee want to know more about just how it went down, and have sent a letter to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg asking for a third-party audit of the agencys security response. It is very troubling that such a security breach could have occurred, particularly given the resources invested, the group wrote in their letter for Hamburg. To restore public confidence in the FDAs information security, we request that you immediately obtain a third-party audit from a qualified expert to assess and ensure the adequacy of FDAs corrective actions taken in response to this incident.