City of Tulsa critical of IT department, requesting audit costing around $135,000

TULSA - Tulsa city officials are demanding the audit of its IT department following recent confusion over a potential website hacking, the suspension of its director and the uncovering of years of security noncompliance.

"We really need some outside help I think at this point," said Jim Twombly, city manager.

In September, the city of Tulsa sent letters to 90,000 people warning of a possible hacking of their personal information, a fear that was later dispelled. The letters cost Tulsa $20,000, according to city officials.

SEE THE LETTER

The city then told 2NEWS they would look to a third-party analysis, which they estimated to be a $25,000 expense.

Another $2,385 was paid to Security Metrics, the company that ran the security test mistaken for an attack, over the past two months.

Now the city expects to spend around $135,000 for an audit of the department.

Twombly contends the measure is not a reaction to the department's recent troubles, but something that has been planned for around a year.

"There's been obvious issues for the last couple of years," Twombly said. "I think we've been attacking those and trying to make improvements but this offers us an opportunity to deal with it all at one time."

The audit will serve as a complete assessment of the department's effectiveness, he said.

Twombly is hopeful the move will bring accountability and will be worth the high price tag.

"What we're looking for, there will be a good return on this investment," he said.

Five companies have submitted bids for the audit.

Officials say they want to start the audit the first of the year with results expected by April. They say they'll pay for it with money allocated for consulting services.