The Security Catalyst

Information Protection Assessment Toolkit (IPAT)

I promised you a case study that demonstrates how the Information Protection Assessment Toolkit (IPAT) changes the way people protect information. In fact, I’m going to give you two case studies in one.

Harold Townley is a Funeral Director and business owner. He also sits on the board of the Town of Ballston. To prove the power of the IPAT, I ran town employees – including Harold – through the IPAT system earlier this year. The result was better protected information for the town and a new awareness about information protection in Harold’s business.

Like all municipalities, Ballston holds information that should not be in the public domain. While there had not been a security problem to date, with no plan in place to protect this information, it was a possibility. They needed the IPAT program.

In Week One I worked with a team of employees to identify what information was held in the organization, where it was held and how it was managed. The next four steps of IPAT involve processing what is learned, analyzing the results, developing an action plan and finally, generating reports. It was after only the first few steps that change was noticed. Involving all employees in IPAT “created an immediate shift in the mindset of town employees regarding information security” says Harold.

But for Harold, the change was extended further. He discovered that he wasn’t only thinking differently about information protection for the city – but for his business as well. At a meeting of funeral directors he encouraged participants to consider how they handle the personal data of deceased people. He wants his profession to consider carefully what is published in newspapers, how data is kept in the business and how requests for information are handled.

Harold doesn’t know that identity theft has occurred as a result of information provided by funeral homes but it is possible and he doesn’t want to be the source of a problem. “Just because we’ve done things one way in the past doesn’t mean we have to continue doing it that way,” he says. Thanks to IPAT, Harold looks at the information held by his funeral home differently. And the town of Ballston is well on its way to a proactive plan that engages all employees in information protection.

The Basics of IPAT
The Information Protection Assessment Toolkit is a process that helps you identify security issues and develop an information protection plan. It involves a set-up session, a toolkit and four coaching sessions. It can be scaled for large and small organizations, involves all employees and is the first step in protecting your organization from a breach.

Contact me (securitycatalyst@gmail.com) to learn more about our Special June Offer for the Information Protection Assessment Toolkit (IPAT).

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!