The employees of the IT Department give their own position regarding the criticisms they received recently after the cyber attacks and also the floods on the servers.
Among other things, they express their concern about the situation they say has been created in recent years in the TYP. "As a Branch, we once again express our concerns about the situation that has been created in recent years in the TYP, which prevents the Department from satisfactorily coping with the demands of digital transformation with all that this entails".
Same announcement
We are referring to the reports that had overwhelmed the media in the last period of time, and they were about in the cyber attack on the Land Registry and the water leak in the Ministry of Finance, assigning all the responsibilities to the IT Services Department (TYP). In this regard, as a Branch, we would like to inform all those in charge that for years the staff of the TYP has been warning and sounding the alarm about the problem of understaffing which inevitably has an impact on the quality of services it offers to the entire Public Service.
Specifically, on the subject of understaffing, all the relevant bodies for years have been repeatedly informed through letters, studies and presentations about this huge and primary issue and the situation that has been created with "groups" of one person who are responsible for projects of millions of euros and systems of tens of thousands of users.
TYP is called upon daily to support more than 18,000 Public Sector employees as well as hundreds of systems that serve citizens and businesses, without the necessary staff. Indicatively and since the issue of security is current, we would like to inform you that the entire security team of TYP, which is responsible for thousands of users, as well as a multitude of projects and systems that are under its responsibility, is staffed with two people, including its head group.
The recent cyber attack received by the Department of Land and Surveying is not expected to be the last, since with the increase in access to various services via the internet, the chances of cyber attacks on the systems and services of the Public Service also increase, as a result of which the security of all is at risk Government systems.
In particular, and with regard to the recent water leak that took place in the premises of the Ministry. of Finance, we would like to inform you that since 2019 the TYP has commissioned a study for the creation of a state data center (Data Center). In early 2020, the findings of the study were released, proposing a short-term action plan for the immediate relocation of government systems, as well as an 18-month long-term action plan to definitively resolve the issue with privately owned facilities. The plans also provided for actions to improve the cyber security of the systems. If the competent authorities had taken into account the recommendations of the PRESS, the consequences of the floods would certainly have been avoided.
Furthermore, the immediate restoration of all services affected by the breakdown, by the TYP Officers within 24 hours, is commendable, considering the extent of both the leak and the equipment affected. It is obvious that the TYP, through this latest crisis, has once again demonstrated the excellent technical knowledge, expertise, capabilities and level of service it can offer despite the aforementioned dire understaffing problem.
< br /> As a Department, we once again express our concerns about the situation that has been created in recent years in the TYP, which prevents the Department from satisfactorily coping with the demands of digital transformation with all that this entails.
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that the satisfactory staffing of the TYP with permanent staff is a necessary condition for the assurance and reliability of the State and we point out that otherwise, there is a visible risk of causing enormous and potentially irreparable damage from new cyberattacks with painful consequences for the reputation of the State but also a waste of time and public money and therefore we once again call on all the authorities to immediately proceed with the appropriate actions for the correct staffing of the PRESS.
- State servers soaked: Assessing the damage when… dry
