JEFFERSON CITY, Mo (Dec. 8, 2016) Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway has released an audit of the system that manages human resource records and state financial activity. The system manages records for more than 50,000 state employees and hundreds of vendors, businesses and contractors who work with the state. The report shows improvements to system security since the last audit three years ago, but finds additional effort is needed to ensure adequate system administration and oversight.
“After the last audit, system administrators and management clearly took audit recommendations seriously and made substantive improvements to system security in both operations and policy, but we must never become complacent,” Auditor Galloway said. “We know that cybersecurity is an area where we must remain vigilant, and that means continuing to identify and correct security gaps in order to ensure our information and the integrity of our systems remain protected.”
More than 5,000 users have access to the system to process bill payments, track inventory and issue paychecks, and the report raises concerns with the amount of time it takes for users to be removed from the system once they are no longer employed with the state or in an authorized position. The audit identified 18 employees who still had access to the system a month or more after their employment ended. This delay increases the opportunities for disgruntled former employees to sabotage or impair entity operations.
The report also recommends improvements to internal policies that could better protect sensitive information and assist in contingency planning in the event of a disaster or other disruption of service.
This integrated financial and human resources management system, known as the Statewide Advantage for Missouri (SAMII) system, received an overall performance rating of good. A complete copy of the report is available online here.
