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Rubrik: World-wide News/Products & News ISAF
Welcomes Strengthened There
is now a Greater Need for Education and Guidance on Information Security Matters (21.07.08)
- Dr David King, ISSA-UK and Chair of the Information Security Awareness
Forum (ISAF), said he is delighted that the requirement to provide
information security awareness has been raised to the top of the agenda
amongst UK government departments and agencies.
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"The
move is welcomed by the ISAF and will, I have no doubt, also be greeted in a
positive manner by other IT security bodies across the UK," said Dr
King, who added that the sea change in the government's approach to
information security is the result of conclusions of a number of relevant
reports in recent weeks. "The
new security ethos permeating through the various strata of the According
to Dr King, there is now a greater need for education and guidance on
information security matters for existing and new employees of the government
and its agencies. "This
need is about to become pressing as the government and its agencies gear up
to take on the several tens of thousands of newly-qualified graduates that
have decided to enter the public sector this coming September," he said. Most of
these new employees, he added, will have grown up with computers, both at
home and at school, but many will lack a basic understanding of data security
issues. "It's
down to their new public sector employers to educate them on this front and
they can only do this if the relevant managers get behind the security
policies that already exist in many government departments and agencies, and
pro-actively apply them," he said. "Here
at the ISAF, we believe that government departments and their agencies should
develop positive strategies to raise awareness and understanding of information
security principles, taking into account the DPA, HRA, RIPA, Computer Misuse
Act, Police & Criminal Justice Act, Defamation Act, Fraud Act, Obscene
Publications Act. They should also prepare for the governance provisions of
the Companies Act 2006, which is due to become law later this year," he
added. Dr King
went on to say that, as individuals as well as employees, ISAF members and
associates, as well as anyone involved in business management, need to be
more aware of the issues that affect us all in our day-to-day handling of
personal data. "This
is especially true when it comes to developing the resources required to
provide information security guidance to all members of staff, covering
issues such as incident reporting, data handling and taking a holistic
approach to the topic," he said. The ISAF
had already seen the need to do this at a Director level with the production
of its Directors’ Guides on Information Assurance launched in April 2008,
sponsored jointly by IAAC, ISAF and BT. The ICO has warmly received and
reviewed these and believes that they should be on the desk of every single
director of every single company / organisation in the land. When asked by
the ISAF as we seek to use the Directors’ Guide to spread the message that
information risks must be understood and effectively managed, Richard Thomas
the Information Commissioner replied, "Every Director should have one!”
and continued, "We will be saying more about board-level accountability
in the Thomas/Walport Report on Data Sharing due
out shortly." Founding
members of the forum included the ISSA, (ISC)2, BCS, Infosecurity
Europe, IISP, ISACA, EURIM, Get Safe Online, NeCPC
and Security Awareness SIG. "The
Security Awareness SIG is looking forward to assisting the public sector by sharing
the knowledge and skills learned by corporations in the private sector. Our
members have been tackling the challenging issues surrounding data protection
for many years, and there is a wealth of good practice and experience that
will save the painful reinvention of many wheels." Said Martin Smith MBE
BSc FSyI, Chairman and Founder of the Security
Awareness SIG "The
CMA is proud to be a founding ISAF member and though our organisation is not
an obvious one for Information Security, we have long recognised that
security issues arise from our increasingly interconnected and converging
world and that top down business involvement is key element in improving the
security posture of any organisation (or country)", said Peter Wenham
CISSP MICAF CLAS, Director, CMA Nigel
Jones, Director of the Cyber Security Knowledge Transfer Network, commented: "It
is essential that the education and awareness of information security becomes
a top priority for For more
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