Incorrect payments in social insurance - Control activities of the Swedish Social Insurance Agency
In 2014 the social insurance system accounted for six per cent of GDP. The long-term sustainability of a system of that magnitude requires that the public perceives its purpose to be important ... , that it is well administered and that it is as free of abuse as possible. It must also be financially stable over time, since major fluctuations impact other areas of the central government budget. When ... these things function as they should, the system is perceived to be legitimate and enjoys public confidence.<br/> According to available estimations, almost SEK 20 billion had been paid out incorrectly from ... Balance of priorities needed to reduce incorrect payments ... Agency in this regard. However they found also, that serious problems can stem from giving higher priority to the speed of payment and customers satisfaction. They both are undoubtedly important features ... Role of social insurance in public finance is so substantial that reduction of incorrect payments' volume is matter of huge savings. The Swedish NAO noted positive initiatives by the Social Insurance ... of each system, still, the prevention of incorrect payments needs strategic support to be really effective.
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Performance Audit of Public Debt Management Information Systems
The usage and development of the information technologies in public financial management is an important priority of the country at the phase of intensive implementation of electronic governance ... (E-Governance). The fact that information systems play crucial role in the business processes of the Ministry of Finance affects the state and the public in general. <br/> Bearing in mind the role and importance ... of information systems in the public debt management process and having considered legal requirements to information security, State Audit Office of Georgia conducted Performance Audit of Public Debt Management ... ... More effective IT governance needed ... Importance of effective performance of public debt management e-systems may be explained by the world’s increased dependence on such systems. In parallel with the performance audit of debt management ... information systems of the Ministry Of Finance of Georgia, Supreme Audit Institutions of 11 countries also studied this topic, both in terms of systems’ performance and their practical application by local ... financial institutions. Audit conducted by the State Audit Office of Georgia has revealed security and governance shortcomings related to management and usage of these systems.
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Material–technical supply of the State Police
The main aim of the audit was to obtain assurance about whether the State budget funds allocated for material–technical supply of functions of the State Police were legitimate and efficient ... . The audit included inspections performed at the State Police, the Ministry of the Interior and the Information Centre and focused on: the Biometric data processing system and the Criminal Procedure ... information system. ... ... Essential role of pre-project evaluation ... SAI of Latvia reveals chain of events that lead to unsuccessful implemenation of two important IS of the State police. What started with an absence of the strategy ended up with budget, time ... overruns and an IS not ready for effiecient use.
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THE CYBER SECURITY ENVIRONMENT IN LITHUANIA
The purpose of the audit was to assess whether cyber security is being ensured in Lithuania. In view of this goal, we assessed whether: (1) an effective cyber security system has been set up; (2 ... ) cyber security is ensured in public establishments. During the audit, the SAI Lithuania analysed current regulation, strategic planning and management practices in the field of cyber security ... and electronic information security as well as the funds allocated and used in this area. The SAI evaluated whether the cyber security and electronic information security objectives detailed in planning documents ... ... Cyber-security is much more than preventing incidents ... SAI Lithuania determined that the issue of ensuring and increasing cyber security and resilience has not been effectively addressed at the national level. The focus has primarily been on reacting ... to and preventing incidents in cyber space, which means that traditional issues related to electronic information security (confidentiality, integrity, accessibility) have been neglected, and from 2015, not enough ... attention has been paid to development, legislation, improvement of organisational structure, etc. in this field.
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Protection of automatically processed personal data
Over the past few years, a number of legal, management, supervision, information, and methodological issues related to the protection of personal data have piled up. As they have not been fully ... resolved,the National Audit Office conducted an audit to assess the efficiency of the protection and supervision of automatically processed personal data and to check whether: - the regulation of personal data ... protection conforms to the data processing practices; - personal data is properly processed at public sector bodies; - the State Data Protection Inspectorate (SDPI) performs sufficient supervision ... ... Data protection needs a long term strategy ... Rapid development of information and communication technology continuously brings about issues of personal data protection. Due to lack of long-term vision in this area they are frequently ... not addressed by the existing legislation. Moreover, SAI of Lithuania revealed failures in organization and control of personal data protection by public sector.
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Management of Information Resources of the Ministry of Agriculture
The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania has managed 32 information systems and registers. Of these, 24 ones are managed, developed and upgraded by a state enterprise subordinate ... to the Ministry of Agriculture, the Agricultural Information and Rural Business Centre. The annual amount allocated by the Ministry for the maintenance of the Centre totals LTL 17.5 million on average ... . The objective of the audit was to assess the general and development controls of the information resources of the Ministry of Agriculture. The audit was conducted at the Ministry of Agriculture and the state ... ... Without appropiate IT management  it is hard to achieve reliable, consistent and secure systems for agriculture ... Since 1996 the Ministry has been using information systems of varying complexity for collecting and processing data, including personal data. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Lithuania ... has managed 32 information systems and registers. SAI of Lithuania revealed that systems were not well mantained what affected use of funds devoted to the systemsand also their legality and security.
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Cyber Attacks: Securing Agencies’ICT Systems
Cyber crime is an international problem, and it is estimated that in 2012, 5.4 million Australians fell victim to such crimes, with an estimated cost to the economy of $1.65 billion ... . In the government sector, the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)3 has estimated that between January and December 2012, there were over 1790 security incidents against Australian Government agencies. Of these, 685 ... were considered serious enough to warrant a Cyber Security Operations Centre response. <br/> The protection of Australian Government systems and information from unauthorised access and use is a key ... ... Cyber-security strategy needs consistent implementation and periodic reviews ... List of 35 mitigation controls against cyber intrusions are a basic tool of information security strategy of the Australian Government. Top four are: 1. application whitelisting, 2. patching ... application, 3. patching operating systems, 4. minimising administrative privileges. Analysis by the ANAO helps to fill gaps and to direct next steps.
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Is the project 'E-health in Latvia' a step towards the right direction?
Objective of the audit was to verify efficiency and productivity of the actions by the institutions in charge for implementation of the e-health, as well as to audit economy and productivity of use ... of funds invested in the project for achievement of set objectives and gaining the planned benefits. Audit covered such main questions: 1) Will the e-health policy be able to solve problems and achieve ... the objective? 2) Are the actual activities performed by the National Health Service justified for achievement of the set objectives? 3) Will necessary information security and personal data protection be ensured ... E-health is a step forward in right direction, but not all objectives will be reached! ... Project “E-health in Latvia” supports healthy lifestyle, it will provide valuable and accessible information and will promote more efficient provision of services to patients. It is undoubtedly ... a step towards the right direction then. However, as found the Latvian SAI, the e-health policy will not be implemented within the initially planned scope and deadline and within set data security levels ... , thus the objective of this policy – to promote more effective provision of healthcare services will be attained only partially.
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