State Police address FOID, cyber security audit findings

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – As his agency works to correct compliance findings by the state’s auditor general, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly says Firearm Owner’s Identification Card backlogs have been eliminated and processing times have improved.

Kelly appeared before the Legislative Audit Commission and addressed findings that his department did not comply with FOID Act requirements.

Courtney Dzierwa of the Auditor General’s Office said renewal fees were deposited into the wrong fund, and ISP was late to provide notification of expiring cards in some cases.

“We recommended the department ensure notifications to FOID card holders are sent in a timely manner and ensure fees are deposited in accordance with the act,” Dzierwa said.

Kelly said the FOID system has been modernized and the backlog has been eliminated.

“The average processing time now for a new FOID card is 14 days, and that’s well below the statutory limitation,” Kelly said.

Dzierwa said the auditor’s most recent examination had 32 findings, but no new material weaknesses and an overall reduction of weaknesses.

State Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, expressed concern about an audit finding that ISP did not maintain adequate security controls over computer systems to safeguard confidential information.

“That’s a big red flag for me, so I’d like you to talk to me about what you’ve done to remediate,” Ellman said.

Kelly said ISP uses software from 35 different vendors.

“We’re pretty close to having all the vendors now meeting the requirements we expect from all of them in terms of their cyber security requirements, the agreements that they have in order to do business with the Illinois State Police,” Kelly said.

Kelly said his office has been more aggressive in training workers to not respond to phishing emails.

“It’s concerning that you see smart, intelligent people that will click on something that they shouldn’t,” Kelly said.

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