Open-source community helps with emergency VistA patch

 

Connecting state and local government leaders

The nonprofit Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent spearheaded the effort to create an emergency patch to a security breach on VistA fortuitously discovered by a Georgia Tech grad student.

While working on his final project for a master's degree in information security, Georgia Tech graduate student Doug Mackey discovered a security flaw in VistA, the Veterans Health Information Systems and Technology Architecture electronic health records system.

Mackey was using VistA as a test case for outlining the relative vulnerability of large government computer systems to attacks by foreign governments. 

“I wanted to study the security of software used within a real system in a critical economic sector,” he told Network World. “The health sector and VistA were chosen because VistA is open source, and all the source code is easily available. Using the open-source code, I set up an isolated lab test system to study.”

VistA is used by the Department of Veterans Affairs throughout its medical system. The department says it's the single largest integrated health care system in the United States, serving over 8 million patients annually. Nearly 25 percent of the population is potentially eligible for VA benefits and services and could potentially use VistA. It consists of nearly 160 integrated software modules for clinical care, financial functions and infrastructure.

“The vulnerability has been there for many years and likely would have remained there unknown and undiscovered for years to come,” Mackey told Network World. It could have been used to execute “thousands” of remote commands, without any authorization, on these health records databases, creating the potential for tampering with patient privacy and medical treatment, he added.

Whether the breach would have been fixed had Mackey not doggedly pursued the affair is debatable. Mackey first contacted the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team and then the VA Office of Inspector General but received no response from either, he told Network World. Only after posting the issue on an open-source developer's forum for VistA did he get a response.

The nonprofit Open Source Electronic Health Record Agent, whose mission includes the creation of a vendor-neutral community for the creation and support of an open-source EHRs, spearheaded the effort to create an emergency patch, now available to all VistA users. 

OSEHRA described the fix as “a textbook example of how the concept of open source can improve system security” in a statement. “VA decided not only to fast-track its own patch for distribution but also to bring the OSEHRA open-source version into VA as the next step of their process.”

Research projects and public awareness campaigns are focusing attention on health care information security.

Two University of Texas at Arlington researchers are leading a collaborative National Science Foundation project to protect personal, electronic health care data while ensuring that the anonymous records can be used for secondary analysis and improved health care. The Office of the Attorney General in California, in collaboration with the American Health Information Management Association, issued best practice recommendations for providers — and tips for patients — to better safeguard health data from theft, reported Healthcare IT News.

Meanwhile the Defense Department is delaying its EHR deployment to 2017, according NextGov

While the delay is caused by escalating costs — an anticipated $28 billion — rather than security issues, the VA’s security flaw and fix could affect system development.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.