The Town of Ulysses is working to improve its IT and cybersecurity systems following an audit conducted by the Office of the New York State Comptroller.
The audit took place summer through fall of 2021 and results were released on April 1, 2022. The comptroller’s office found Ulysses’ town board had inadequate IT policies, mismanaged local user accounts, and lacked a written service level agreement (SLA) between the town and their IT service provider, according to Ithaca Voice.
In term of inadequate IT policies, the state found that Ulysses did not have a contingency plan in case of disruptions like natural disasters or breakdown of hardware.
Out of the town’s 46 total local user accounts, 6 accounts were for former employees, meaning there was risk for unauthorized IT system access.
The comptroller’s office recommended the town establish an SLA with their IT provider in order to hold both parties accountable to one another. The report also found that town leaders were not aware of the town’s IT policy shortcomings. They assumed the town’s employee handbook adequately covered IT topics, but these policies were missing.
In March, Ulysses got out ahead of the comptroller’s report by outlining work the town board had already done to improve the town’s IT systems and cybersecurity.
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