How Secure is the ECK data?
Based on the current impasse at ECK, I cant help sharing an article I send to the media 4weeks before the elections and it never got the attention it may have deserved... walu. ~~~~~starts~~~~ How Secure is the ECK data? (Late Nov 2007) Recently, there was the verbal exchange between politicians and the Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) about whether or not the Voters Register was being tampered with at ECK, Headquarters Anniversary Towers. Rather than debating on who is lying and who is not, it is better to take a nationalistic and objective view by asking How Secure is the ECK data? The Voters Register and the subsequent Polling Data is, or should be categorised as a critical national resource and must be accorded the appropriate levels of protection from various threats. Any mismanagement of this data would compromise the peaceful existence of the Kenyan state as we know it today. Typical threats facing this data would arise from circumstances that can compromise the Confidentiality, Integrity Availability and Non-Repudability of the ECK data. Data or information is said to be Confidential if it is secured against un-authorised access. Indeed most of the ECK data is by nature public information such as the Voters Register but there must be some data that should be kept confidential since it may be used maliciously if placed in the wrong hands. To what extend has ECK put in place processes and systems to ensure that confidential data remains confidential? The Integrity of data is an aspect of whether the ECK data is secured against illegal changes. In other words, does ECK have systems or controls in place that can prevent, detect and correct un-authorised changes to the Voters Registers or the Polling Data? Are these controls effective and more importantly, are these controls regularly tested? Availability of data refers to its capacity to be delivered where and when it is needed by its stakeholders. You can imagine, if the voting was done, the tallying completed and then ECK was unable to announce the results because of a computer or more commonly hard-disk failure. Speculations arising from the delayed announcement of election results during those critical hours after the elections could make or break this nation irrespective of whether the delay was valid or otherwise. Non-repudability of data refers to the capacity to prove beyond reasonable doubt, the origin of data. Within the context of ECK, this may be important particularly during this year when ECK is adopting modern communication technologies to receive, relay and query their data. Assuming the Returning Officers would be sending in their Polling data via SMS, Internet, Telephone or even Fax are there systems in place to prove that indeed the incoming data is originating from the official and not impersonated sources? In the interest of the public, ECK must take the necessary precautions to protect its information from the above threats. Similarly, ECK must be seen or should demonstrate publicly that they have indeed done due diligence to provide the necessary security with respect to the safety of their data. In developed economies, the laws and regulations require that critical data of national importance must be subjected to regular Information Systems Audits along the same spirit as that of carrying out regular Financial Audits. Despite the lack of compelling legislation to do an Information Systems Audit, ECK can decide to act in the interest of the Public and engage professional Information Systems Auditors to execute an Information Systems Audit on their critical data and related processes. Such an exercise, if it has not already been done, may be the only weapon to silence the reckless politicians who will keep suspecting the integrity of the ECK data to the detriment of this nation. J. Walubengo Mr. Walubengo is a Lecturer at the Kenya College of Communications Technologies (KCCT) and a Board Member, Information Systems Audit & Control Association (ISACA). ~~~ends~~~~ ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Dear all Our dear country has been referred to as "An African exception and role model, a beacon of hope". "We are known for upholding peace, for our our cohesiveness, stability, being a reliable neighbor and our ability to ignore politicians whims" So it is really sad and frustrating to witness the current situation being manipulated and inflamed. And most of all sadness as what these events mean for us the Kenyan people. In a number of countries and situations, communication technologies have been used to advocate for issues including gender equality among others. Perhaps we could use the same to bring Kenyans together. To advocate for peace, to sell Kenya to Kenyans and to remind ourselves that our country has had one of the highest and best profiles in Africa and we cannot afford to throw that away. peaceful 2008 My comments are entirely personal and do not reflect any position of the organisations I am affiliated with. alice
Hi all ICT can be used for advocating peace if it is used responsibly. Of late we have seen sms messages being used to spread wrong information. The ICT fraternity should educate the public on the advantages and disadvantages of some communication. We cherish peace and let us use ICT in promoting it but not to spread fear and hatred. Njorohio alice <alice@apc.org> wrote: Dear all Our dear country has been referred to as "An African exception and role model, a beacon of hope". "We are known for upholding peace, for our our cohesiveness, stability, being a reliable neighbor and our ability to ignore politicians whims" So it is really sad and frustrating to witness the current situation being manipulated and inflamed. And most of all sadness as what these events mean for us the Kenyan people. In a number of countries and situations, communication technologies have been used to advocate for issues including gender equality among others. Perhaps we could use the same to bring Kenyans together. To advocate for peace, to sell Kenya to Kenyans and to remind ourselves that our country has had one of the highest and best profiles in Africa and we cannot afford to throw that away. peaceful 2008 My comments are entirely personal and do not reflect any position of the organisations I am affiliated with. alice _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: gathuri_njorohio@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/gathuri_njorohio%40yaho... --------------------------------- Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Hi all ICT can be used for advocating peace if it is used responsibly. Of late we have seen sms messages being used to spread wrong information. The ICT fraternity should educate the public on the advantages and disadvantages of some communication. We cherish peace and let us use ICT in promoting it but not to spread fear and hatred. Njorohio alice <alice@apc.org> wrote: Dear all Our dear country has been referred to as "An African exception and role model, a beacon of hope". "We are known for upholding peace, for our our cohesiveness, stability, being a reliable neighbor and our ability to ignore politicians whims" So it is really sad and frustrating to witness the current situation being manipulated and inflamed. And most of all sadness as what these events mean for us the Kenyan people. In a number of countries and situations, communication technologies have been used to advocate for issues including gender equality among others. Perhaps we could use the same to bring Kenyans together. To advocate for peace, to sell Kenya to Kenyans and to remind ourselves that our country has had one of the highest and best profiles in Africa and we cannot afford to throw that away. peaceful 2008 My comments are entirely personal and do not reflect any position of the organisations I am affiliated with. alice _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: gathuri_njorohio@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/gathuri_njorohio%40yaho... --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
A story is told - in the Old Testament (Bible) I believe, where two women fought over a new-born baby, each claiming the baby belonged to them. The fight and its intensity was such that the case had to reach the highest authority in the land - King Solomon it was I think. King Solomon listened to the reasons passionately advanced by each party claiming ownership of the baby and now he had to make that final decision to resolve the impasse. He ruled that since each mother claimed to be the parent of the baby, what he intended to do was to split the baby equally in the middle and allow each parent to go home with a piece of the baby. One of the 'parent' quickly agreed to the solution while the other one was so totally appalled by the idea and asked the King to spare the baby and allow the other parent to keep it. Today I want to ask both our Kenyans Leaders - who amongst them is willing to spare our nation Kenyan from being split into two. That will be our true leader. The one who would rather spare the baby (Kenya) because they know it belongs to them. Long live the baby (Kenya) walu. --- gathuri njorohio <gathuri_njorohio@yahoo.com> wrote:
Hi all ICT can be used for advocating peace if it is used responsibly. Of late we have seen sms messages being used to spread wrong information. The ICT fraternity should educate the public on the advantages and disadvantages of some communication. We cherish peace and let us use ICT in promoting it but not to spread fear and hatred.
Njorohio
alice <alice@apc.org> wrote: Dear all
Our dear country has been referred to as "An African exception and role model, a beacon of hope". "We are known for upholding peace, for our our cohesiveness, stability, being a reliable neighbor and our ability to ignore politicians whims"
So it is really sad and frustrating to witness the current situation being manipulated and inflamed. And most of all sadness as what these events mean for us the Kenyan people.
In a number of countries and situations, communication technologies have been used to advocate for issues including gender equality among others. Perhaps we could use the same to bring Kenyans together. To advocate for peace, to sell Kenya to Kenyans and to remind ourselves that our country has had one of the highest and best profiles in Africa and we cannot afford to throw that away.
peaceful 2008
My comments are entirely personal and do not reflect any position of the organisations I am affiliated with.
alice
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____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your home page. http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
Hi all ICT can be used for advocating peace if it is used responsibly. Of late we have seen sms messages being used to spread wrong information. The ICT fraternity should educate the public on the advantages and disadvantages of some communication. We cherish peace and let us use ICT in promoting it but not to spread fear and hatred. Njorohio alice <alice@apc.org> wrote: Dear all Our dear country has been referred to as "An African exception and role model, a beacon of hope". "We are known for upholding peace, for our our cohesiveness, stability, being a reliable neighbor and our ability to ignore politicians whims" So it is really sad and frustrating to witness the current situation being manipulated and inflamed. And most of all sadness as what these events mean for us the Kenyan people. In a number of countries and situations, communication technologies have been used to advocate for issues including gender equality among others. Perhaps we could use the same to bring Kenyans together. To advocate for peace, to sell Kenya to Kenyans and to remind ourselves that our country has had one of the highest and best profiles in Africa and we cannot afford to throw that away. peaceful 2008 My comments are entirely personal and do not reflect any position of the organisations I am affiliated with. alice _______________________________________________ kictanet mailing list kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/listinfo/kictanet This message was sent to: gathuri_njorohio@yahoo.com Unsubscribe or change your options at http://lists.kictanet.or.ke/mailman/options/kictanet/gathuri_njorohio%40yaho... --------------------------------- Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
participants (3)
-
alice -
gathuri njorohio -
John Walubengo