Tool to help Business and Government Protect Information

Albany, NY, June 7, 2007

The Security Catalyst is pleased to announce the beta launch of the Information Protection Toolkit (IPT). As part of the groundwork for the toolkits development, it was tested by the town of Ballston, NY earlier this year.

Harold Townley is a Funeral Director and business owner who also sits on the board of the town of Ballston. To test IPT, town employees - including Harold - were taken through core elements of the IPT process. The result was better protected information for the town and a new awareness about information protection for 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 IPT program.

In Week One, a team of employees worked through IPT to identify what information was held in the organization, where it was held and how it was managed. The next four steps of IPT involve processing what is learned, analyzing the results, developing an action plan and finally, communicating the plan. It was after only the first few steps that change was noticed. Involving all employees in IPT "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.

Thanks to IPT, 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.

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Contact:
Ffion Llwyd-Jones
ffion@securitycatalyst.com
Tel: 800.996.8351 / 518.207.3450 Ext. 103