50 / 106
50
“The Electronic Document and
Records Management System
(EDRMS) can greatly improve the
government’s operational efficiency,
productivity and transparency while
reducing costs and increasing the
amount and scope of operations.
However, protective measures
become extremely important when
official documents are digitalized and
exchanged over the internet and the
government’s intranet, and stored
in digital formats,” describes Philip
Dalsou, Permanent Secretary of the
Ministry of Public Service, Information
and Broadcasting of St. Lucia and
key person in the promotion of ICT
related projects in the country.
Under such considerations,
the TaiwanICDF further deployed
Taiwan's information security
management technologies and
support to initiate the Information
Security Management System (ISMS)
project after establishing the EDRMS
for the ICT Technical Cooperation
Project in St. Lucia. The TaiwanICDF
provided consulting services to St.
Lucia in setting up its own ISMS,
introduced international ISMS
standards, and successfully helped
St. Lucia in achieving the ISO 27001
International Standard Certification
for Information Security Management
Systems.
Initiating information security
dialogues and encouraging
private companies to follow
suit
Philip remembers the first time
when the TaiwanICDF proposed
the ISMS project in early 2014. The
Government Information Technology
Services (GITS), which is in charge
of managing the government data
center and providing IT services to
the government, was tasked with
undertaking this initiative. The Ministry
of Public Service, on the other hand,
provided support for internal and
external audits.
The process of introducing the
relevant systems and standards
took about one year. Training,
analysis, assessment, and audits
were performed and a number of
operational policies and procedures
were documented and developed,
and continuous improvements
to system processes made. As
this was St. Lucia’s first attempt in
implementing an ISMS, the process
brought with it many challenges, from
initial skepticism from team members
on the viability of the project, to
human resource cons t ra i n t s ,
overtime work for staff, and difficulties
encountered during the setup
process. Philip emphasizes: “Past
cooperation in ICT projects have seen
most of the development and design
work handled externally. But in this
project, our local team participated
in the entire implementation from its
inception to completion, allowing us
to gain hands-on experience from the
process.”
He further points out that while
immed i a t e bene f i t s f rom t he
project are not readily apparent,
the implementation and successful
attainment of the ISO 27001 certificate
has enabled St. Lucia to obtain a
set of standardized processes that
can be adhered to. This in itself
would allow for assessment and
measurement of performance,
and continued improvement of the
government ICT environment, while
strengthening the confidentiality,
transparency, and reliability of the
government’s information assets.
Above all, this project has stimulated
inter-departmental conversations
on information security among
government agencies and the
necessary regulations for supporting
re l a t ed i n i t i a t i ves , and even
encouraged a number of private
companies and organizations to seek
ISO certification.
Since ISO structures a continuous
cycle for improvement, Philip
expects the project to serve as a
model for ICT, e-government and
innovative industries in St. Lucia.
Over the next five years, the ISMS
and ISO certification are expected
to help both the government and
private sectors train personnel
and i mp l emen t t he r e l e v an t
standards, and achieve continuous
improvements and optimization.
Philip says in this regard: “In the
future, we can design an optimal
system that is suitable for the entire
government, making our national
and international partners see our
dedicated efforts in safeguarding the
security of information assets, thereby
encouraging foreign investments
and boosting national economic
development.”
Philip Dalsou, Permanent Secretary, Ministry
of Public Service, Information and Broadcasting of
St. Lucia
Ensure complete information security
to encourage foreign investments and
promote economic development
2
Interview