AG doubtful about SITA's ability to protect govt depts from cybersecurity threats
On Tuesday, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) heard of the governance issues and the lack of human resources plaguing the entity.
- State Information Technology Agency (SITA)
- Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA)
- Cyber security
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CAPE TOWN - The Auditor General (AG) has expressed doubt over the State Information Technology Agency (SITA)'s ability to protect government departments from cybersecurity threats.
On Tuesday, Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) heard of the governance issues and the lack of human resources plaguing the entity.
The AG’s office says the delays in modernising State IT systems is impacting service delivery.
By law, all State departments have to use SITA for their information technology needs.
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But the AG says outdated and ageing technology and software are weakening internal controls.
Auditor Portia Nkuna says individual government departments need to take more responsibility.
"When it comes to cybersecurity, it can’t be left to SITA alone, since they are an enabler, and we see they’ve tried with this capability."
Nkuna says SITA is also battling to recruit the skills needed to service all government departments because it can’t match private sector salaries.
She says where cybersecurity is being outsourced to private service providers, monitoring and accountability are also inadequate.