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Hackers Don’t Care What Industry You’re In24 November 2015

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Academia, Financial Services, Healthcare, IT Security, Non-Profit, Policy Development, Risk Management

I had the honor of speaking on the subject of cyber security at the New York Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Head of Schools conference this month. This is their annual event where they discuss important topics, and this year the NYSAIS leadership decided that cyber security is a topic that they should be learning more about and discussing.

I am always encouraged to see organizations in industries that you would not typically associate with cyber security wanting to learn more. The reality is that any organization that uses technology or stores sensitive data needs to take proactive measures to protect this data as much as possible.

Hackers don’t care where they get data such as medical records, birth dates, and social security numbers, and will seek the easiest targets to go after. This fact means that organizations across all industries need to be proactively taking measures to improve their cyber security – not only in the area of technology but also people and policies.

The Heads of School that I spoke with were very interested in learning how they can tackle this challenge in a practical and affordable manner. Academic organizations have a particularly unique challenge of balancing data protection with making sure that students and faculty have access to the information that they need to aid learning.

Although each organization is unique, there are things that you can do to increase your organization’s security awareness and improve their defense in depth. Examples of how you can accomplish this include:

  • Performing an IT security assessment to develop a custom security roadmap and action plan
  • Optimizing your existing network infrastructure
  • Remotely monitoring your critical infrastructure
  • Provide cyber security training to your employees on topics such as web browsing, social media, and mobile devices.

Part of our mission at COMPASS is to make sure that organizations across all industries are provided with the information that they need to better protect their data. Through arming these organizations with knowledge, we are helping them protect the personal digital lives of their students, employees, clients and anyone else who has entrusted them with sensitive data. Speaking at a conference like NYSAIS supports this mission and is critical to changing the balance of power away from the hackers.

Contact COMPASS to learn more about our methodology and service offerings and how they can help your organization develop a robust cyber security ecosystem.

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