Government gets Rijks-ciso to combat poor ICT security

The central government will have a general Chief Information Security Officer or ciso. In this way, Minister Ollongren wants to improve the poor ICT security in the national government. The Rijks ICT Dashboard will also be improved.

The security of ICT systems within the government leaves a lot to be desired, according to a report by the Court of Audit in May. Minister Ollongren of the Interior wants to improve that situation quickly, she writes in a letter to the House of Representatives. One of the measures is that more priority will be given to reviewing the job profile of Chief Information Officers or CIOs within the departments, and reviewing the quality framework for ICT departments within central government.

Ollongren sees an important role for Chief Information Security Officers, or cisos, who supervise the security of the digital environment and collected data within departments. However, their role still differs per department, so Ollongren wants to ‘formalize’ the position. In addition, the cisos do not yet work together. That is why there will be a new CISO Rijk, who will keep an overview of all CISOs. The CISO Rijk must ‘ensure an integral safeguarding of information security within the government-wide ICT policy’, writes Ollongren. The person also works together with the Government Security Officer.

Ollongren also plans to expand the Rijks ICT Dashboard. All ICT projects within the government and at independent administrative bodies such as the CBR or the Chamber of Commerce are kept in that register. There is currently no accountability information available in the Dashboard about certain aspects of ICT projects. That will add up. Management costs of ICT projects are also included in the Dashboard if they exceed five million euros, and CIOs are given ultimate responsibility for complete ICT projects, ‘including the management aspects’.