NEWCASTLE – The municipality stands by the safety of its digital billing system.
In an additional response to last week’s fears of information leaks, the municipality provided a detailed report from the developers of the e-billing portal.
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The developers reiterated this was a unique occurrence.
According to Nto Vinkhumbo, head of municipal Communications, the developers could not replicate the issues experienced by this reporter, and specific checks were built into the system to prevent such cases.
“The portal does not retrieve any customer information from the portal system when a failure on the registration occurs.”
The developers explained the portal used information provided by the user on the initial submission.
However, they committed to testing all cases with the portal registration, and also introduced extra checks, if needed, on the registration wizard.
“After many tests, we have not been able to replicate the scenario Bruce reported. We are able to return to the same error: ‘Unable to get personal information from submission’, but each time the correct details captured by the unregistered user [were] returned.”
Despite this, the developers listed measures put in place both on the portal software and application server:
The Application Server for request handling has been given a configuration change.
On the portal itself, there is a forced clear of each of the registration steps’ request attributes, once they are used.
“This should force the clearing of attributes in all circumstances.”
The developers also removed the dynamic re-population of sensitive customer information, when a user registration form returned with an error.
“This removes the convenience of the user’s captured information being returned back when an error occurs. However, it will increase security and prevent the display of sensitive information under erroneous circumstances.”
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Any changes, said the developers, would be implemented at a time when users were not busy on the system, and would also restart the Application Server.
The assurances from the developers preceded a message from the municipality on Tuesday.
It stated the Newcastle Municipality’s Customer Service Portal was 100 per cent security compliant in accordance with security standards, including encryption.
“Customers are encouraged to continue using the portal.”
Miss Vinkhumbo concluded with further emphasis on the once-off nature of the problem, and said checks were programmed to ensure the system was safe and secure.
“This is why we encourage all portal users to provide feedback and log all issues with us so they can be dealt with.”
