LANSING – Ensuring security of Michigan’s computer systems is the top priority, Department of Information Technology Director Kenneth Theis said Tuesday, and that will mean assuring both internal and external security.

He spoke at a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Emerging Technologies Committee that unanimously recommended confirmation of his appointment as the permanent director of the department.

Theis also said he was committed to ensuring that a major project to revamp the systems at the Department of Human Services debuted successfully, and that he was meeting regularly with the state’s auditor general to ensure that some 31 material conditions of weaknesses, found in a number of audits, were resolved. Most those areas revolved around system security, Theis said.

Theis, former deputy director of the department, succeeded former Director Teresa Takai, who took the CIO job in California on Jan. 1. With his wife, three children, parents and inlaws backing him up as he took questions from the committee, and assured them he had directed the head of the department’s auditing division to report directly to him. Theis also said he would stay in direct contact with the Legislature during his tenure.

The biggest challenge for the department is ensuring security, Theis said. The state’s computer security system stopped 40 percent of the attempted contacts in the last year since it was determined that they were spam, viruses or internet attacks. That translated into 15 million web attacks alone attempted against the state during 2007, he said.

The department has done a good job in protecting the state’s computer system from the outside, but there are still challenges to ensure its protection from the inside, he said. Theis said the state needs to look at better coordination of how state workers are signed on and off the system, to ensure that when people leave the state they cannot get access to the system.

Theis said another priority, which also affects system security, is updating equipment and systems. Some systems are decades old and equipment to replace worn out parts is nearly impossible, he said. Older equipment is also more susceptible to cyber attack, he said.

Asked about the status of the “Bridges” program in DHS to replace a number of older systems with one coordinated system, Theis said the department is carefully monitoring its development to ensure a minimum of problems when it goes online.

The state has had several bad experiences in developing new systems, Theis said, and while DHS are desperate for the new system – which will save them from having to duplicate data – he wanted to be sure the system was right before it was unveiled. But he was also determined to “bring it home. I understand the criticality of it, not only for the state but for the citizens.”

He also said the state is about three months from unveiling its latest version of its web site, Michigan.Gov

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