Vic: Poor IT system threatens Vic police files - report
22 Mar 2009 1:09 AM
MELBOURNE, March 22 AAP - Victoria Police's information system is so overwhelmed, underfunded and underprotected it risks a massive loss of data that could paralyse the force's operations, confidential documents show.
According to its own assessment, Victoria Police is served by an IT department that is overwhelmed by increasing technology demands.
A leaked copy of the police's Risk Register, a catalogue of issues facing the force, reveals the failure of management to commit to "an appropriate standard of information security controls", the Sunday Age says.
The register also reveals a high risk of police losing information, including sensitive operations material, because "data stored on servers outside (the Victoria Police Centre) exceeds the amount that can be backed up to a single tape".
There is also a high risk of power outages causing a meltdown in the force's IT nerve centres, which, other documents show, have not been securely and appropriately housed for at least five years.
The revelations crown a decade of bungles and cost blowouts in the IT department, known as Business Information Technology Services.
Last year, the department was taken over by a board of management and police launched an internal investigation into kickbacks and fraud within the department and the apparent loss of $89 million.
AAP gr/ao
