Auckland, New Zealand: The Pacific Association of Supreme Audit Institutions (PASAI) is providing national, state and territorial audit offices (SAIs) with an essential foundation for safe information technology (IT) operations.
SAIs play an important role in the management of public finances in their jurisdictions and require strong IT policies, processes and standards to ensure the security of their information.
As part of this programme, PASAI is making a comprehensive package of 14 IT policies available to all of its member SAIs in the Melanesian, Micronesian and Polynesian sub-regions. They include guidelines on asset management, operational security and cloud use.
To provide practical advice around implementing these policies, PASAI, supported by cyber security service providers InPhySec, will deliver three online regional workshops.
Twenty-seven participants (13 female, 14 male) from 11 SAIs (in the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) National, FSM Yap State, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Palau, the Marshall Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) will participate in the workshops which start today.
Last year, to better understand the challenges for SAIs in the region, PASAI did a comprehensive IT needs assessment of Pacific Island SAIs. It identified several areas where improvements could be made to strengthen IT systems in the region. This programme addresses one of the primary recommendations to come out of that assessment.
Senior Advisor at the Office of the Secretary-General of PASAI, Nicole Ayo von Thun, explained that PASAI’s Learning Platform offers pre-course reading, post course FAQs and the opportunity to have ongoing dialogue with the workshop facilitators.
“The training will include best practice guidance, the chance to engage with cyber security professionals and the ability to share experiences with other participants,” she said.
Aimed at those who have responsibility for IT and physical security, their supervisors and key decision makers at the SAI, the training will enable staff to implement the policies, processes and standards into their individual operating environments.
PASAI acknowledges the support of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).
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Contact information:
Nicole Ayo von Thun, Senior Advisor Office of the Auditor-General, New Zealand
E: Nicole.AyovonThun@oag.parliament.nz P: +64 21 222 6302
PDF version of this media release
