Speaking at the Information Security World Conference held today at Darling Harbour, Sydney, Senator Lundy Shadow Minister for IT said that the Howard/Costello Government was still neglecting E-security in the Federal Government.
The findings of the bi-partisan Report into the Management and Integrity of Commonwealth Information int he Commonwealth Government (e-security) are proof of the chronic neglect of e-security under the watch of the Howard Government. This Report identified the fact that some agencies and departments do not have an adequate security policies in place. Find the Report here.
A key recommendation was the requirement for all agencies and departments to have prepared a plan for the physical security of their information technology systems. This was necessary when the inquiry exposed the fact that many departments and agencies could not account for the location of physical equipment such as servers, as evidenced by the debacle of the theft at Customs in Sydney Airport.
There is still a chasm between rhetoric and the reality of the Howard / Costello Government with respect to e-security.
This highlights the hypocrisy of a Government keen to spend taxpayers money on ‘be alert, not alarmed’ fridge magnets, but absolutely fail when it comes to covering the basics of good management and security practice for the protection and security of sensitive and critical commonwealth information.
Contact: Adina Cirson – (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
