IT security in the Federal Administration
The SFAO has audited the Admin PKI – the basic infrastructure and offering for the issuing of digital certificates – within the Federal Office of Information Technology, Systems and Telecommunication ... (FOITT). The examination concentrated on assessing the development and current operation as well as future prospects. Admin PKI refers to all processes and the hardware and software needed for issuing ... certificates of different grades. ... Technical and organizational deficiencies work together against data security ... entities' networks. ... Only minor deficiencies were revealed in the Windows environment but only in case of Microsoft products.Providers' lack of both assertiveness and synergy adds to 'the great unknown' of authonomous
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Software Developement Effective Practices and Federal Chalenges in Applying Agile Methods
To identify effective practices in applying Agile for software developement solutions and federal challenges in implementing Agile techniques. ... Agile project approach in government practice ... administrations. American GAO reviewed set of agile projects and revealed - apart from advantages - a set of commonly occurring problems: poor team work, lack of time and deficit of customers’ trust. ... Useful products delivered in a short time are basis for often applauded features of agile project approach. Applied by many private companies, it tends as well to be more and more popular among state
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Business Continuity Management
Audit Office (SFAO) previously carried out a cross-section audit in 2009 on the BCM measures at nine administrative units of the central Federal Administration. This year’s audit focused ... on the decentralised Federal Administration as well as the Swiss Federal Railways (rail transport and ticket sales) and Swiss Post (PostFinance, Swiss Post Solutions, PostBus). ... Business Continuity Management is a process whereby all necessary measures are taken to ensure that a company can accomplish its core tasks on time even in extraordinary situations. The Swiss Federal ... ... A cross-section audit on business continuity management (BCM) ... The audit points, among others, at a necessary but difficult process chain: Policy - Analysis - Strategy - Planning - Training.
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Management and protection of assets in the field of the information-communication technologies at the AO SR
and security of the information-communication technologies (ICT) and the information systems of the public administration (ISPA) as well as the state assets administration, the economy and disposal ... The Supreme Audit office of the Slovak Republic (SAO SR) has executed the audit at the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (AO SR) for the audit period 2010 and 2011 to verify the operation ... with the state assets, the compliance with the generally binding legal regulations and the general statues in the field of the ISPA. There were 24 irregularities found, mainly in the field of the protection ... ... ... Failure to comply with the law leads to unnecessary jeopardizing of data security ... The audit in the field of the information systems of the public administration (ISPA) executed by the Supreme Audit Office of the Slovak Republic at the Antimonopoly Office of the Slovak Republic (AO ... SR) exposed several deficiencies related to the information systems and the data security as a consequence of a lawbreaking.
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Quality of public services in information society in 2010
Report: The National Audit Office audited the quality of public services, analysing the compatibility of provision of these services with the principles of good administration. The principles of good ... administration require that people be burdened as little as possible in their relations with public authorities: a person must be able to exercise a right or perform an obligation with as little waste of time ... if this is acceptable to the person in question. Even though state and local government agencies have made efforts to implement the principles of good administration, the National Audit Office cannot affirm ... ... The quality of public services has been improved but still isn’t good enough ... Irrespective of a few positive changes, the quality of provision of public services in information society has not improved significantly in comparison to 2007. Information about the services ... is still difficult to find on websites and people who use public services must still submit unjustified documents, proof of facts or go to administrative agencies in person.
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Management and protection of assets in the field of the information-communication technologies at the ME SR
the compliance with the generally binding legal regulations and the general statues in the field of the information-communication technologies (ICT) and the information systems of the public administration (ISPA ... physical security of the areas related to the IT. All these irregularities are results of poor coordination, administration, organization, governance and operation management in the field of the ICT ... The Supreme Audit office of the Slovak Republic (SAO SR) has conducted the audit at the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic (ME SR) for the audit period 2011 and 2012 to examine ... ... Started from contracting, ended in security ... The perceptive and filled with findings audit - conducted by the Slovak SAI - discovered the list of issues which started in careless contracting procedures, failure to update the development concept ... and ended in exposing the organization to high security risks.
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Report on the government’s processing of confidential data on persons and companies
Rigsrevisionen has examined how eight government institutions process confidential data on persons and companies in 11 selected IT systems. The report is based on IT audits carried out in connection ... with the annual audit in the spring 2014. The purpose of the audit was to assess whether confidential data on persons and companies are adequately protected by the government institutions. ... ... Inadequate protection of confidential data ... e-government and make government administration more efficient. ... If a government institution does not protect confidential data to the extent necessary, the risk that third parties get unauthorized access to the data is very high. In opinion of the Danish SAI ... , inadequate protection of confidential data may also erode the citizens’ and companies’ confidence in government data security. That may eventually become a barrier for the continued efforts to implement
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The Ministry of the Environment lacks a compact information system and still uses 125 separate information systems and databases
The objective of the audit was to scrutinise the management of funds earmarked for the purchase and administration of ICT within the MoE and selected organisations which come under the management ... of the MoE. The audit identified the following risks: (1) non-existence of the Integrated environmental information system (IEIS) as an independent information system; (2) purchase of ICT, within the budget ... chapter of the MoE, through a state co-funded organisation CENIA which comes under the management of the MoE; (3) utilisation of the information systems. The audited period was 2010 to 2013; where relevant ... ... Ministry of the Environment manages 125 information systems and databases ... The Ministry of the Environment (MoE) has for more than 20 years a legal obligation to administer and manage an Integrated Environmental Information System (IEIS). In spite of this fact, the existing ... systems (more than 125 information systems and databases) are designed, implemented and managed as individual information systems without a direct integration into a joint point of reference.
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Management of Information Resources of the Ministry of the Interior
Department and State Enterprise Regitra which are responsible for administration of the information resources managed by the Ministry as well as data security and development. ... Many activities of the Ministry of the Interior require the use of information resources that are of great significance to the entire State, such as the state and departmental registers, and public ... information systems. Whereas the Ministry has failed to implement some of the public audit recommendations of 2007 and 2010,6 we analysed, whether there have been any positive changes in the field of IT ... ... Process maturity examination can help in IT audit ... Main risk areas in case of this audit were strategic and organisational - Ministry’s weak ownership of IT resources, insufficient audit and internal control function. SAI Lithuania auditors found ... also flaws in change management and security processes. But the finding, which gave them the key to the root cause of problems, was connected with maturity assessment of the auditee's IT processes.
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Opportunities Exist for SEC to Improve Its Controls over Financial Systems and Data
The SEC is responsible for enforcing securities laws, issuing rules and regulations that provide protection for investors, and helping to ensure that the securities markets are fair and honest ... . In carrying out its mission, the SEC relies on computerized information systems to collect, process, and store sensitive information, including financial data. Having effective information security controls ... in place is essential to protecting these systems and the information they contain. <br/> This report details weaknesses GAO identified in the information security program at SEC during its audit ... IT security basics under scrutiny ... Financial audit by US GAO was accompanied by an IT examination focused on information security measures in the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). GAO found that SEC’s systems could ... be compromised, because of risks jeopardizing the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of sensitive financial information.
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