Overview
Presbyterian Ladies’ College is a Kindergarten to Year 12 set in the inner Eastern suburbs of Burwood in Melbourne. Director of ICT and Privacy Brenton Harty says, “While we are aware of the changing landscape of the digital environment, it is our responsibility to ensure our executive and School board are equally knowledgeable about the threats we’re seeing, as well as deriving a common language for more effective responses.”
Business Challenge
“ICT is people, processes and technology, not technology, technology and technology – many people think you can buy security as an ICT service. Our goal was to get everyone to understand that you’re not just safe because you have an ICT team. One of the most exploited vectors for attacking an organisation is through human engineering. We needed everyone to understand that cybersecurity isn’t just solved with some settings and subscriptions. Safeguarding the School is the responsibility of everyone working there.”
Speaking about the need for training sessions across the School’s leadership, Mr Harty said, “That was part of the education piece we required – to make sure that everyone understood that even though we have the best services and threat protection equipment available, we all need to be proactive about cybersecurity. Until you have everyone aware of their role in security, you’re not secure.”
The Solution – Expert training sessions
With the increasing complexity and threat of cyber incidents and the changing and strengthening of legislation, Mr Harty saw an opportunity to get a professional ICT CISO into the School to reinforce the knowledge of the board and executives. “We needed to reorder their knowledge and prioritise certain information so that they were aware of their responsibilities, and had an acute understanding of the threat environment that they operate in and how to respond to it”, he said.
After attending a previous presentation, Mr Harty found the NetStrategy team to be impressive. “They were approachable, relatable and believable. They didn’t come across as stereotypical ICT people, but rather people who you can really engage with. They were able to engage with people from all walks in the audience and use striking real-world examples to get his point across to such a diverse audience.”
Speaking about the first of two sessions the School has undertaken with NetStrategy, Mr Harty said, “We brought them on for a training session to the School Council, and based on its incredible success, we invited them a second time to address the entire staff body.”
Benefits
“The NetStrategy team really engaged with our current environment situation. Leading up to the presentation, NetStrategy had requested all sorts of information about the School. What it allowed him to do was create a presentation that wasn’t generic at all, but tailored specifically to us. He was even able to inform our staff about the actual number of times that we were being attacked each day, which was quite a shock value for everyone, and that made them sit up and listen to him even more.”
Speaking on the results of the training sessions, Mr Harty said. “I’m getting asked better questions, which gives the real sense that learning has occurred. We’ve learned how to change behaviour in general and the School is in a far better position.”
“NetStrategy used the Australian Institute of Company Director Guidelines for Boards and Councils document, which sets out the responsibilities and roles of all stakeholders, which many members of the leadership team weren’t aware of. He thoroughly introduced the new framework and covered real-world examples and scenarios to give the session weight and currency with the executives. Chris has got a really nice way about him, he’d make a good teacher”, he said.
Partnering with NetStrategy
Mr Harty concludes by saying, “I’ve noticed that everyone at the School has a far greater interest in cybersecurity. I think they have realised that it’s not just an ICT problem, it’s an everyone problem, and that they need to play a senior role in safety. The School council certainly sees how seriously we need to take cybersecurity, they’re way more knowledgeable than before.”
Speaking about their partnership with NetStrategy thus far, Mr Harty said, “We understand that the best way to address cybersecurity and other ICT issues is by giving everyone ongoing updates and training, which is exactly what we’ll be doing.” He continued, saying, “After each training session, I noticed that everyone was talking about cybersecurity over the next couple of weeks, which is a very good sign.”
Looking into the future of cybersecurity for the School, Mr Harty said, “I’m pleased to say that the board is even more engaged than ever before. They are right behind all our existing ICT security initiatives, as well as the ones we’ve proposed since we held the training sessions.”
