Bank admits to security blunder in outsourcing deal

04.08.2006
Westpac Bank has admitted that IT security has been the one casualty of its 10-year, A$4.3 billion (US$3.3 billion) IT outsourcing deal with IBM GSA which was inked in the year 2000.

Admitting that Westpac made a "small blunder" by outsourcing security as part of the massive outsourcing contract, Westpac's chief information security officer and CIO of enterprise services, David Backley, said the bank has struggled to get security, and especially staffing levels, back on track.

Backley likened the scenario to a struggle and said outsourcing employees was the most difficult element of the deal.

Under the contract, which covered infrastructure, desktop, e-business, mainframe, mid-range, and telecoms, around 1,000 of the bank's IT staff were transferred to IBM.

Backley said the bank is only now getting the pendulum to stand still a little and getting better traction in shifting security labor without it costing the bank.

"In 2000, when we outsourced to IBM Global Services over 10 years, we made a small blunder in that we outsourced the security team and we were left with one person in-house who now works for the National Australia Bank (NAB); he was the guardian of information security at Westpac," Backley said.