Assessing our readiness for a security breach

When an institution experiences a data breach, there is a limited amount of time to detect, contain, remediate and report on what happened. The response to this type of incident needs to be deliberate, practiced, and well... [ view full abstract ]

When an institution experiences a data breach, there is a limited amount of time to detect, contain, remediate and report on what happened. The response to this type of incident needs to be deliberate, practiced, and well understood by all levels of the organization. The University of Lethbridge undertook an effort to create a program for Higher Education Institutions and Municipalities which would offer simulations of various real life data breaches and Information Security incidents that would allow institutions to assess their readiness, and determine how to improve their capabilities so when a real situation occurs they would not be practicing responses in front of the television camera. This is the only way to get involvement from every level of the organization, from System technicians to the President's office.

I will talk about how the University, in partnership with IPS Network Services, created a program, what was learned during the process, and how other organizations can take advantage of the output at significantly reasonable rates. I will talk about recommended practices and how to make this type of activity a productive part of your Business Continuity Planning process.