One day, I’ll read an IT audit from NYS Comptroller DiNapoli and will smile at the good report. Today is not that day, however. The following is a summary of the audit of of True North Rochester Preparatory Charter School. According to the state, “the School’s IT network and assets are managed by an IT service provider who works closely with the IT Coordinator (Coordinator), an employee of the Company. The Coordinator is responsible for managing the day-to-day IT operations, while the IT service provider provides support for complex IT issues.”
Audit Objective
Determine whether the Board and School officials ensured information technology (IT) assets were safeguarded.
Key Findings
- The Board did not adopt adequate IT policies or a disaster recovery plan.
- School officials did not provide IT security awareness training to staff.
- Hardware and software inventory records were inaccurate and outdated.
In addition, sensitive IT control weaknesses were communicated confidentially to School officials.
Key Recommendations
- Adopt comprehensive IT policies and procedures and a disaster recovery plan.
- Provide security awareness training to staff and maintain complete and up-to-date hardware and software inventory records.
School officials agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action.
You can read the full report here (pdf), but keep in mind that they didn’t include some of the most serious concerns in the written and publicly available report.