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I. Objectives

This Order is being issued to:

1. Develop personnel awareness on the security requirements of the Bureau relative to the technical computing environment and the consequences involved when said requirements are not met.

2. Set the guidelines in reporting and evaluating cases of security violations.

3. Set the policies for the imposition of sanctions for such cases.

4. Prescribe areas from which security violation(s) may arise.

II. Definition of Terms

In order to have a common understanding of the provisions of this Order, the following are hereby defined:

Security Breach/Violation	refers to non-compliance to set policies and guidelines as embodied in the Physical Security Manual.
Gravity of Offense	refers to the seriousness of an offense which is classified into Grave Offense, Less Grave and Light.
Technical Sanction	penalties to be imposed including any of the following: suspension/deletion of account, change of assignment, etc.
Functional Sanction	penalties to be imposed pursuant to Executive Order No. 292 (Civil Service Law) and its implementing rules and regulations such as: suspension of personnel, dismissal from service, etc. Such cases are usually coursed through the Internal Affairs Service.

III. Policies and Procedures

1. Any act which has adverse effects to the following areas are considered as security breach/violation:

1.1    Hardware
1.2    Software
1.3    Data
1.4    Network
1.5    Operating System
1.6    Printed Data
1.7    Computer Media
1.8    Computing Environment

2. Each Head of Office is required to designate a Security Officer who shall monitor strict implementation of the set security guidelines.

3. Non-compliance to the set policies and guidelines embodied in the Security Manual (refer to Annex A) constitutes a security violation which shall be reported immediately by the Security Officer to the ACIR of Information Planning & Quality Service (IPQS) who, upon receipt of reported violation(s), shall:

3.1 Ask for written explanation from respondent.
3.2 Request to convene the Security and Access Committee (SAC) in order to determine the gravity and the nature of the violation committed and the corresponding penalty (whether technical or functional sanctions) to be imposed based on initial reports as well as respondent's explanation.

4. The Security and Access Committee shall:

4.1 Classify violation committed based on list of nature of offense(s) stated above.

4.2 Determine severity of any known violation and recommend corresponding sanctions as stated above.

4.3 Be guided by the policies set forth in Executive Order No. 292 (Civil Service Law) and its implementing rules and regulations:

4.3.1  Only one penalty shall be imposed for each case. "Each case" means one administrative case which may involve one or more charges or counts.

4.3.2  In the determination of penalties to be imposed, mitigating and aggravating circumstances may be considered.  The fact that an offender is an IT personnel will be considered as an aggravating circumstance.

4.3.3  If the respondent is found guilty of two or more charges or counts, the penalty imposed should be that corresponding to the most serious charge or count and the rest may be considered as aggravating circumstances.

4.3.4  The second or third offense committed need not be the same offense previously committed but any offense of the same classification.

5. The action of the SAC shall later on be elevated to the ACIR of Internal Affairs Service (IAS) for appropriate action.

6. Infractions may be classified into Grave, Less Grave and Light Offenses. Their corresponding penalties pursuant to Executive Order No. 292, and its implementing Rules and Regulations are:

6.1  GRAVE OFFENSES:

NATURE OF OFFENSE		SANCTIONS
	1st offense	2nd offense	3rd offense
Gross neglect of duty	Dismissal
e. g. Unsecured superuser and other powerful accounts
Grave misconduct	Dismissal
e.g.       -installation of unauthorized software       -unauthorized copying of BIR software       -unauthorized physical access to machines(PCs and servers) holding applications or data       -unauthorized access to external storage media (tape cartridges, floppy disks, etc)       -adding an unauthorized PC to the network       -unauthorized user access to Other BIR offices       -unauthorized access to the Operating System       -unauthorized access to the Integrated Tax System       -unauthorized access to sensitive data in the database       -unauthorized access to printed output from database (reports, correspondence, etc.)     -unauthorized users gaining access to the system via logged-in workstations
Falsification of official document	Dismissal
e.g.       -tampering with Operating System files       -unauthorized tampering of applications, alteration of text files - reports. correspondences, etc. - created or used by other applications       -tampering with the database structures and permissions     -tampering of database records by unscrupulous users
Receiving for personal use of fee, gift or other valuable thing m the course of official duties or in connection therewith when such fee, gift or other valuable thing is given by any person in the hope of expectation of receiving a favor or better treatment than that accorded to other persons or committing acts punishable under the anti-graft laws	Dismissal
e.g.     -connivance with technical personnel to get their desired results
NATURE OF OFFENSE		SANCTIONS
	1st offense	2nd offense	3rd offense
Disclosing or misusing confidential or classified information officially known to him by reason of his office and not made available to the public, to further his the public interest undue advantage to anyone, or to prejudice private interests or give	Suspension for six (6) mos. & one (1) day to one f 1) year	Dismissal
Directly or indirectly having financial and material interest in any transaction requiring the approval of his office.Financial and material interests is defined as pecuniary or proprietary interest by which a person will gain or lose something	Suspension for six (6) mos. S one (1) day to one (1) year	Dismissal
Conduct grossly prejudicial to the best interest of the service	Suspension for six (6) mos. & one (1) day to one (1) year	Dismissal
e.g.      theft of technical handbooks

6.2  LESS GRAVE OFFENSES:

NATURE OF OFFENSE		SANCTIONS
	1st offense	2nd offense
Simple misconduct	Suspension for one month and one day to six months	Dismissal
e.g.     unauthorized access to communication links dissemination of false information

6.3 LIGHT OFFENSES:

NATURE OF OFFENSE		SANCTIONS
	1st offense	2nd offense	3rd offense
Violation of reasonable rules and regulations	Written reprimand to be included in respondent’s 201 files	Suspension for one to thirty days	Dismissal
e.g.     mis-labeling of tapes loading of virus infected files to network environment unauthorized access to technical manual

IV. EFFECTIVITY

This Order takes effect immediately and shall apply to all types of security violations.

Adopted: 22 May 1998

(SGD.) LIWAYWAY VINZONS-CHATO
Commissioner of Internal Revenue