3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2016
Audit: Agencies still face IT security vulnerabilities
By CLAIRE
WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
SALEM — Longstanding
information technology secu-
rity weaknesses continue at
several state government agen-
cies, according to a state audit
released Wednesday.
The Secretary of State’s
Office, after spending a year
auditing 13 state agencies for
information technology secu-
rity, warned in a report that the
failure of the state to implement
changes increased the risk of a
“security incident.”
“Overall, planning efforts
were often perfunctory, secu-
rity staffing was generally
insufficient, and critical secu-
rity functions were not always
performed,” the audit states.
“These weaknesses collectively
increase the risk of a security
incident at one or more of the
agencies.”
Citing the “sensitive nature
of security,” the office sent con-
fidential letters detailing spe-
cific security concerns to each
agency.
The 13 agencies selected
represent a cross section of
state government, according to
the audit. They varied in size
and type and include several
agencies that maintain sensitive
personal data, such as the Ore-
gon Health Authority and the
Oregon State Police.
All of the agencies the
audit scrutinized fared poorly
when it came to managing user
accounts to ensure no unautho-
rized users had access to inter-
nal information; and all agen-
cies had issues with “patching,”
or fixes to remedy the vulnera-
bility of operating systems and
software to viruses or hack-
ing. Anti-virus software was
missing or outdated at some
agencies.
The audit also found weak-
nesses in security awareness
training and network security.
Auditors also found that the
state’s chief information officer
hasn’t given agencies adequate
standards and oversight, and
doesn’t have processes in place
to ensure compliance with state
standards and federal security
requirements.
Alex Pettit, the chief infor-
mation officer, largely agreed
with the audit’s findings.
Pettit, in a letter released
with the audit Wednesday,
identified some ways the office
is trying to address the issues.
For example, it is continuing
to develop by mid-2017 a pro-
gram to regularly scan most
agencies and to provide new
training on security issue for
state employees.
The office is also work-
ing on a risk assessment, fol-
lowed by an “enterprise secu-
rity plan,” both of which the
office expects to be complete
Pearson: Current library presents challenges
Continued from Page 1A
how to allocate that amount
next fiscal year.
‘Freedom to read’
A former senior librarian
at the Denver Public Library
System, Pearson replaced
Jane Tucker, who served as
the Astoria library director for
17 years. He moved to Astoria
with his wife, daughter and cat.
In conversations with
patrons, Pearson has been try-
ing to take the emphasis off the
physical structure and put it
on what the library can do for
Astoria.
“What I am doing is focus-
ing on getting to know my staff
— which are awesome — and
I’m focusing on the services
that we provide,” he said.
Soon, he will implement
a software program for the
library’s computers — an auto-
mated reservation system —
that will streamline sign-ups
and eliminate the need for staff
to get involved in the process.
“We spend a lot of time man-
aging the computers,” he said.
And he is exploring the
option to install a printer that
works like a vending machine,
allowing people to pay and
print out pages without staff
retrieving and sorting through
them.
Though he doesn’t publicly
advocate for either a remodel
or a relocation, Pearson
acknowledges that the current
library presents challenges.
One of the them, he said,
is the lack of federal Ameri-
cans with Disabilities Act-ac-
cess and how it limits what he
calls the “freedom to read” for
people who cannot get to the
mezzanine.
Say, for example, that
someone in a wheelchair
wants to read a NASCAR
romance novel (yes, that is a
thing) and doesn’t want others
to know about it. This person
would have to ask staff for it
because he or she cannot climb
the stairs.
This is an accessibil-
ity issue, but it is also a pri-
vacy issue, Pearson believes,
because “everyone should
have the freedom to read what-
ever they want without inter-
ference,” he said.
A library remodel would
have to correct the ADA issue,
which would then take care of
the privacy issue, he said.
Library as lifeline
A former Army medic who
retired from the military in
2012, Pearson once worked
at Texas Children’s Hospi-
tal in Houston, in the inten-
sive care unit, as an operations
manager.
“Even though I’ve seen
trauma and dealt with trauma,
I’m not the person that’s going
to be able to sit and watch kids
die every day,” he said.
So he got a job working in
a local library, “and it just fit,”
he said. “It’s like, I had walked
in the doors, and I knew that
was it.”
Though he already had
a master’s degree in public
administration, he earned a
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Recount: State law required hand recount
Continued from Page 1A
Ackley said, “It was a
very tight race, and I know
that Ryan is going to do
great things on the Planning
Commission. I think we’ve
got a well-rounded group on
both commissions.”
The recount ended sev-
eral weeks of uncertainty in
the Position 1 race.
At the close of Election
Day, Lampi had a one-vote
lead over Ackley: 1,079 to
1,078.
But, as additional ballots
deposited in other counties
came in, the lead switched,
putting Ackley five votes
ahead of Lampi, 1,119 to
1,114.
When amended results
showed her continuing to lead
by five votes — this time 1,120
to 1,115 — the razor-thin mar-
gin triggered an automatic hand
recount.
State law requires hand
recounts of ballots when the
difference between candidates
falls within one-fifth of 1 per-
cent of ballots cast.
Ackley, who was appointed
to fill a vacancy last year,
returns to a City Commission
led by Mayor Mark Kujala and
commissioners Henry Balen-
sifer, Tom Dyer and Rick New-
ton. Balensifer and Dyer ran
unopposed in the election.
The commission is con-
fronting a host of crucial issues,
which include adjusting the
development code to encour-
age housing growth; resolving
the Eighth Street Dam property
dispute between the city and the
Skipanon Water Control Dis-
trict; and challenging the Fed-
eral Emergency Management
Agency’s preliminary flood
maps that may exaggerate the
flood risk along the waterfront
and jack up insurance rates.
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MIAMI — Princess Cruise
Lines will pay a $40 million
penalty after pleading guilty
to seven federal charges in an
illegal ocean pollution case
that involved one ship’s use of
a so-called magic pipe to divert
oily waste into the waters,
engineer aboard the Carib-
bean Princess discovered the
“magic pipe” in 2013 off the
coast of Great Britain and told
investigators about it. Authori-
ties later learned the 952-foot
ship had been illegally dis-
charging oily water into the
ocean since 2005.
The 17-ship Princess line is
based in Santa Clarita, Califor-
nia. Three ships in the line —
the Crown Princess, the Coral
Princess and the Star Princess
— stopped in Astoria this year.
20 lb. min • Each batch individual
2016
T H
By CURT ANDERSON
Associated Press
authorities said Thursday.
Miami U.S. Attorney
Wifredo Ferrer told a news
conference the penalty is
the largest ever of its kind. A
plea agreement filed in fed-
eral court also requires Car-
nival Corp., parent company
of the Princess line, to submit
78 cruise ships across its eight
brands to a five-year environ-
mental compliance program
overseen by a judge.
Ferrer said the illegal prac-
tices came to light when an
Debbie D’s will be at
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N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A
ND
One ship had a
‘magic pipe’
GAME MEAT PROCESSING
Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500
rotation agreement.
Those employees in rotation
will continue to be compen-
sated by their respective agen-
cies, according to the order.
“Ultimately, the governor,
the OSCIO agency directors,
and the Legislature must coop-
erate to create, fund, endorse
and implement a statewide
security plan,” the audit states.
The CIO has also worked to
update its standards, and Pettit
said in his letter that his office
will identify “critical resource
gaps” to bring to the attention
of the governor and Legislature.
The Capital Bureau is a col-
laboration between EO Media
Group and Pamplin Media
Group.
Carnival’s Princess pays
$40 million fine for sea waste
second master’s in informa-
tion science. When he gradu-
ated, he worked at a children’s
library in an inner city library
in Houston then rose through
the field.
At the many locations he’s
managed, he has told his staff:
“We never know that moment,
that interaction, that’s going to
make the difference in that per-
son’s (life).”
When he applied for the
Astoria position, he was man-
aging the third-largest library
in Denver, a site that saw
hundreds of kids arrive after
school.
“If you’re just saying, ‘Hey,
how are you?’ Or, ‘How did
your day go?’ that may be the
only positive interaction they
have in their day,” he said.
“They may be the kid that
gets picked on. They may be
the kid the teachers don’t like.
They may be having problems
at home or whatever.
“But you just say, ‘Hey, how
are you?’ and ‘How was your
day?’ That could be it. That
could be the kid’s moment that
keeps them from going down
a path that they shouldn’t go
down, or gives them some-
body to look forward to seeing
in the afternoon.”
It’s these kinds of connec-
tions — the ones that can turn
a library into a lifeline — that
excite Pearson. And they can
happen in any library building,
old or new, he said.
Whatever becomes of the
library, Pearson said, “I love
being a librarian, and I love
being the director for Astoria.”
Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber
D E C E M BE R
by next summer.
Auditors noted it will take
money and perseverance to
address security concerns at
state agencies.
The audit noted that more
work is also needed to meet
the requirements of Gov. Kate
Brown’s executive order in
September to consolidate the
state’s IT security functions
under the CIO’s umbrella.
Brown’s order did not allo-
cate more staff to the CIO,
according to the audit, although
IT security staff from all state
agencies not led by an inde-
pendently elected official or
part of the public university
system were to be assigned
to the CIO through a job
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