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Advice: Technology Vendor Contracts -- Is the Right Security Built In?

April 6, 2009 By Dan Lohrmann

A few years ago, Michigan government was hit with two computer virus outbreaks in six weeks. Both situations caused system outages, customer complaints, network slowness and more. After we recovered from the second situation, I received shocking news from my forensic team: The security incident was caused by an infected vendor laptop -- again.

Conventional wisdom in government technology circles is that IT vendors, especially big consulting firms, are secure. Most people take for granted that the "experts from out of town" will do no harm as they integrate new technology into enterprise infrastructures. In my experience, this is a bad assumption.

Many of our private-sector colleagues do a good job of putting the right people, processes and technology in place to protect critical systems. But even the best integrators make mistakes. So how do we build the right security provisions into contracts and manage our vendors well?

When I was at the National Security Agency (NSA), many courses were offered on this topic. Staff dedicated entire careers to becoming certified Systems Acquisition Managers who learned the latest vendor-management techniques. No doubt, we need more NSA procurement rigor in state and local governments.

But beyond the art of contractor and vendor management, there are certain topics that require attention that I regularly ran into as a chief information security officer. Here are five areas I recommend addressing as you build Invitations to Bid or negotiate contracts with vendors.

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CIOs Redefine Local Government and Industry Relations

Based off of discussions of the Digital Communities Large Jurisdiction Chief Information Officer (CIO) Working Group, this white paper aims to answer the question, "In today's economic, political and business environment, what constitutes a successful relationship between government and industry?" Cause for Optimism identifies and clarifies the issues that separate government and industry, and begins to find an answer to the question necessary for both to enjoy a successful and prosperous future.

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