The Ministry of Home Affairs, along with Computer Services Department (CSD), has embraced the Office of the Auditor General’s Information Technology Security Audit Report, and began addressing issues found during the audit before receiving the final report.

Cybersecurity is arguably the biggest threat facing governments, businesses and individuals around the world. The effort to defend, mitigate and recover from cyberattacks consumes vast amounts of resources.

The Cayman Islands are also faced with challenges of cybersecurity. Our dependence on technology and the high rate of change in IT systems creates vulnerabilities that put governments, businesses and individuals at increased risks. IT security is more than just hardware and software; it includes people, processes and organizational cultures.

The Ministry of Home Affairs believes that the security flaws discovered by the Office of the Auditor General are unacceptable. In addition to the Auditor General’s review, the Ministry of Home Affairs and CSD have commissioned additional security examinations, and are actively engaged in strategic IT governance planning and implementation. The collective findings point to issues that are systemic and best addressed through improvements in governance, leadership, processes and procedures along with the appropriate technology.

Since CSD was placed under the purview of the Ministry of Home Affairs in July 2012, the following has been accomplished in relation to IT security:
• Contracted with external security consultants to work with CSD to assess the security of a wide range of systems, perform urgent security improvements and create a plan to continually address security;
• Hired a senior IT security administrator;
• Delivered training and professional development of project management, security and IT governance. These focus areas are now part of the Project Future initiatives and are being implemented by CSD;
• Working with CSD and other stakeholders to raise the priority and implement security controls at all levels across the Government.

IT infrastructure found to pose a security risk has been replaced at a cost of $698,551. This further demonstrates that the Ministry is working to reverse the degradation of CSD’s capabilities, which in large part was due to the budget cuts prior to the 2013-2014 budget.

The Ministry is taking active steps to bolster the leadership and management in CSD, assisting the department to be better prepared to deal with IT Security and other IT challenges that face the government and the country.

Chief Officer Eric Bush shares that “While much work remains, the worldwide focus on cyber security risks has elevated the priority of cyber security within the Cayman Islands Government. We continue to work on building defensive IT systems, along with improving systems and processes to minimise cyber risks, increase resilience and speed recovery from cyber-attacks.”
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See iNews Cayman story published Oct 4 2015 “Cayman Islands Government IT Security report warns of serious threats to its security” at:: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/cayman-islands-government-it-security-report-warns-of-serious-threats-to-its-security/

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