On 10-11 October, an annual meeting of the EUROSAI IT Working Group (EUROSAI ITWG) took place at NIK headquarters. The meeting, held in a hybrid format, was opened by NIK President Marian Banaś and Auditor General of Estonia Janar Holm, who is the Group Chair at the moment. NIK was in charge of the ITWG’s works directly before Estonia.
Approximately 50 persons from nearly 20 SAIs from the European region and the USA, India, Qatar and Pakistan participated in this year’s meeting of the EUROSAI ITWG. The main topics discussed included: independence in using cloud solutions, security and continuity of the state’s IT systems. Auditors of the public sector have to make sure that the systems used by the state administration are properly designed and maintained and that the data security has become an inseparable element of good governance.
The key speakers at the meeting were Deputy Secretary General from the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications for Estonia Sandra Särav and project manager of the government cloud for Estonia Siim Vene. The meeting participants shared their experiences. The Ukrainian SAI representative talked about the Russian control of data during the war. The NIK experts addressed the issue of the institution’s digitalisation and the tool for analysing audit reports – the CUBE.
During the panel discussion the meeting participants argued how not to cross the thin line between the data protection and the excess of regulations in that area. At the same time, the meeting attendees could admire technological novelties presented by the Estonian SAI delegates.
The event was also an excellent opportunity of the bilateral meeting of NIK President Marian Banaś and Auditor General of Estonia Janar Holm. The two SAI heads exchanged their experiences and challenges related to managing works of the EUROSAI ITWG.
