From: Mark Allen
Sent: 27 January 2012
15:15
To: Councillor Ian Brown; Councillor Rabi Martins; Councillor
Asif Khan; Councillor Steve Rackett (TH); Councillor Alan
Burtenshaw
Cc: Bernard Clarke; Avni Patel; Alan
Power
Subject: For Information: Response to Audit Committee regarding
use of Internet Explorer in Watford Borough Council
Dear Audit Committee
Member,
For your information,
following the Audit Committee meeting in January at which Members
expressed their concern about the ongoing use of Internet Explorer 6 (IE6)
because of its security vulnerabilities, I have contacted ICT to clarify the
current position regarding the upgrade to
Internet Explorer 8 (IE8).
I have been informed that the more secure IE8 has
been rolled out to all Thin Client users which is the majority of staff at
Watford as well as the majority of PCs that are
used by non-thin client users. As the council does not have any automated audit
tools, it is not possible to provide exact figures for the number
of PCs not upgraded. ICT are planning
a manual inventory of all PCs at both councils to be completed by the end of this
quarter so they will know the exact numbers that are
outstanding.
The Infrastructure team is about to implement
a trial version of Microsoft System Centre Configuration Manager which will
automate upgrades such as these. If the trial is successful, ICT will recommend
to both councils that this solution be implemented to manage all patch
management, software deployment and inventory.
Currently, the
critical issues identified in the IT Health check report are being given
priority. ICT will add the full implementation of IE8 to their future work
programme but do not currently have a timescale for this as they
are finishing work on the 12 week programme of
improvements.
In the meantime,
all systems at both councils
are protected by firewalls and email filters that include virus scanning
upon entry into the network as well as local antivirus at server and desktop
level.
I hope this
explanation clarifies the current position for you.
Regards,
Mark Allen
Audit Manager
Internal Audit Service
Watford Borough Council & Three Rivers
District Council,
Three Rivers House,
Northway,
Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, WD3
1RL
Telephone: (01923) 727463 or (01923)
278104