[kictanet] How secure is our information in government offices?

[Kipkemoi arap Kirui]

P. R Owino,

The other issue of concern is the rise in the number of foreign governments
and agencies literally falling over each other competing to donate computers
to state institutions. Can someone stop this?

Kipkemoi arap Kirui

On 22 February 2011 11:01, Paul Roy <roykoikai at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
> Been watching keenly with grave concern our public
> institutions falling victims of numerous security attacks. The defacement
> of government
> websites has just but opened the eyes of the general public as to how
> insecure
> our data and information within these offices are.
>
> Unfortunately going beyond defacement of public websites,
> there are untold stories of viruses, malware, rootkits, Trojans, data
> breaches,
> illegal and unauthorized access to information, intrusion, DoS attacks and
> any
> more going on.
>
> Indeed a simple analysis has proven most government
> computers and laptops do not have simple line of defense i.e. passwords. In
> cases
> where they are passwords, they are shared and are very simple to crack.
> Further,
> lack of Information Security policy hampers development of proper security
> roadmap and strategy.
>
> In areas where counter measures have been put in place, the
> staff lack skills to maintain these systems, and in the long run are
> incapable
> of dealing with new emerging threats thus renders the counter measure
> ineffective.
>
> I believe this is due to lack of guidance from government
> institutions tasked with providing either services or framework policy.
> Both
> KICTB and Directorate of e-Government should work together to come up with
> a
> quick solution to this persistent issue. As we look at this, it would be
> good
> to keep in mind that technology alone cannot solve all incidents related to
> security.
> We need to evaluate both people skills and processes in place. In regards
> to
> people skills, it would be advisable to engage experienced consultants in
> the
> field of Information Security to work together with government to properly
> skill them.
>
> In conclusion I believe this country has some of the best
> skills currently in the private sector, we need to take a lead role in
> contributing our knowledge and skills towards improving security in our
> public
> sector institutions and Government in general.
>
>
> Paul Roy Owino, CISSP, CISA, CISM, CEH, MCITP.
>
> Technology Strategist, Microsoft Corp.
>
>
>
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