11 Mystery Users Found Using MDARD's Computer System

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 01/28/2026) The digital licensing system used by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) is vulnerable to unauthorized users and at risk of having license data manipulated, according to an audit released Wednesday.

The Office of Auditor General report found that MDARD had no documentation for 11 of the 61 internal users that had access to the licensing portal system, found state user credentials for people that hadn’t worked for the state for more than three years and found that the certification of users was lacking.

The report found MDARD had one user account that had access to data well above what the job responsibilities were set.

Many of the employees' roles in the licensing program weren’t defined and 32 of the 61 users looked at didn’t have a user group setting. There were four given access to areas they didn’t need to be.

MDARD agreed with the audit findings and said they had already started implementing stricter controls on the licensing program.

They’ve been working with the Department of Technology, Management and Budget to implement those.

“MDARD will continue to lead in safeguarding systems and data, proactively adopting emerging best practices to stay ahead of evolving threats,” the MDARD response stated.