Experts Available to Discuss Report Claims IRS Needs to Tighten Computer Security

Business Wire, April 10, 2008

ExpertSource:

TOPIC: A report from the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration recommends the IRS tighten its computer security to prevent hackers from stealing confidential information on taxpayers, according to an article by The Associated Press. While investigators did not cite specific incidents in which the IRS compromised taxpayers' information, the report found the routers and data switches that form the network between tax agency offices could be vulnerable to hackers. Investigators found of the 374 accounts for IRS employees and contractors with access to perform system administration duties, 141 accounts were expired or were not properly authorized.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

As Vice President of Corporate Development at Courion Corporation, Kurt Johnson is an expert on identity management, access compliance and enterprise provisioning. He is responsible for Courion's strategic direction, product management, and securing and managing Courion's alliances and partnerships. Prior to Courion, Kurt was Vice President of the Service Management Strategies program at META Group, a leading industry research organization. At META, Kurt established himself as a leading authority on the help desk, IT service management, system management and IT outsourcing markets. Before joining META Group, Kurt held consulting and management positions with The Bentley Company, now part of eLoyalty, an enterprise CRM service and solutions company. Kurt has Bachelor of Science degrees in both Marketing and Finance from Boston College.

Kurt Johnson has contributed articles to a number of publications on the subject of identity management and access compliance, including Network World, SC Magazine, ebizQ, and ISSA Journal. Kurt has been quoted by several additional publications and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

PR Contact: Pat Chadwick
617-758-4262
pat@famapr.com

Adam Bosnian is the Vice President of Products, Strategy and Sales at Cyber-Ark Software. He is responsible for the global product and business strategy of the company as well as for managing the North American sales organization and growing the business in this area. Bosnian brings a strong marketing, sales and product background to his role at Cyber-Ark, with over 15 years of experience in defining and implementing successful marketing strategies, launching award-winning products and working closely with and managing sales organizations to identify, initiate and close significant sales opportunities. Previously at Elron Software, Bosnian was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing and served as the Co-General Manager during the initiation and completion of an M&A transaction with Zix Corporation. At Elron, Bosnian successfully managed strategy development, product management, demand generation, marketing communications and sales - creating a product, sales and marketing strategy that significantly increased revenue and led to the M&A with Zix. Prior to Elron, Bosnian served in a series of marketing executive roles at InterSense, Spacetec Corporation and New Media Graphics Corporation. Bosnian holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute where he graduated with Highest Honors.

Adam Bosnian has written articles for several well-known publications including SC Magazine, Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Journal and ComplianceNOW. He has also spoken on the topic of Privileged Password Management at ISACA and MISTI-hosted events.

PR Contact: Kim Baker
978-474-1900
kbaker@pancomm.com

Pamela Fredericks, of Forsythe Solutions Group, brings with her over 20 years experience in the information systems field. As director of security advisory services, Fredericks' focus is on security controls and information privacy, with particular emphasis on security management through creation of IT policies and guidelines that fulfill security, audit, and legal compliance requirements. Fredericks' experience includes internal corporate management and administration, and external consulting for Fortune 500 companies in the mutual fund, insurance, and consumer finance industries. She holds CIPP (Certified Information Privacy Professional), CISSP (Certified Information Security Professional), and CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) certifications, and is a member of ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association) and IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals).

A highly regarded industry expert, Fredericks often writes about and is quoted on security, privacy, and regulatory topics. She has served as an expert source for CIO, Executive Technology, Business Finance, InformationWeek, and InfoWorld, and has presented HIPAA updates at various hospital users groups. Fredericks also participated in an NECCC Privacy Workgroup that produced a privacy legislation white paper entitled, "Privacy Policies: Are You Prepared? A Guidebook for State and Local Governments."