7 Reasons City Employees Should Not Use Unapproved Software
John Miller, Senior Consultant, Sophicity: We put the IT in city
In the news, we’ve seen plenty of times when government employees get into a lot of trouble by using software that’s not approved by government entities. From private email servers to encrypted messaging apps, big problems occur when government employees download software outside of IT policy.
As a recent article by Governing points out, the risks of “unsanctioned software” or “shadow IT” ripples all the way down to local government. According to the article: Security is the biggest problem with shadow IT. Whether the software is American or foreign, it often doesn’t meet the strict security standards set by government cyber security protocols. Popular file-sharing apps, for example, allow users to easily upload, store and download files, but they may contain viruses or malware that can spread and infect a state government network. Plus, it’s easier to install software nowadays. With so
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much cloud software dominating our lives, city employees usually don’t need to purchase physical software, stick a CD into their computer, and install it. Cloud software is ready to go in seconds and…boom! Employees start using it immediately.
While downloading such software may be fine at the employee’s home, remember that you’re an important government entity—a municipality that needs to protect critical citizen information and comply with important laws.
The Governing article gives a great overview of the problem but doesn’t go into many security specifics about why you need to guard against city government employees who download unauthorized software. Here are 7 questions to ask yourself about this software. 1. Who is patching and updating the software? Software needs regular patching to fix bugs and security holes along with updates to improve performance. With authorized software, your IT staff or vendor oversees this
SOUTH DAKOTA MUNICIPALITIES
