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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Incident Reporting, School Safety

Is your school prepared to respond accordingly to reports of bullying and harassment? Are you prepared to investigate, stop, prevent, eliminate hostile environments, take appropriate actions and document your actions? Are your school leaders aware of the different types of bullying that may be creating hostile learning environments in your school? Studies show for students to achieve academically, they must feel secure and comfortable in their learning environment. A recent study from the University of Virginia revealed the academic performance of students in schools with persistent bullying may suffer because students are less engaged in learning due to fears about bullying or a greater levelRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Risk Management

  I saw a discussion last week that was asking for input on ways to reduce employee risk.  Most of the responses offered a technology solution…which is interesting considering most studies and trends show employee risks and weaknesses are getting worse and more alarming even though organizations have spent thousands, millions and billions on technology solutions.  Does this seem weird to you? One of the responses from one of the participants caught my attention when they said “it is difficult to patch a user”. Interesting comment and I responded by saying it is NOT THAT DIFFICULT to patch users/employees….IF you are using the right resources.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Legal, School Safety

  In case you missed it, federal authorities are investigating “incidents involving harassment and bullying” in Minnesota’s largest school district. The civil rights investigation is underway in Anoka-Hennepin, a suburban Minneapolis school district, and based on the seven-month “landmark federal investigation” that recently ended involving Tehachapi Unified School District in California, the Office of Civil Rights is serious about protecting the rights and safety of students. School leaders at every school in the U.S. should be taking a serious look at their ability to prevent the preventable involving harassment, bullying, cyber bullying and other alarming trends in schools.  School leaders should review their ability toRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Human Resources, Legal, Regulatory Compliance

  I recently came across a discussion between Markkula Center for Applied Ethics’ Executive Director Kirk Hanson and Craig Nordlund, former general counsel of Agilent Technologies.  Nordlund believes the concern for ethics must be shared by everyone in the organization, but suggests ethics programs will be ineffective without leadership from the company’s top executives. It is hard to argue with his comment stating “ethics programs will not work unless there is leadership on ethics from the company’s top executives”. However, lessons learned and incidents seem to clearly reveal that leadership from the company’s top executives is not enough. So why is creating an ethics cultureRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Financial, Information Privacy, Information Security

  Strike 1: The first incident occurred on April 26th, when SONY announced personal information had been compromised on their PlayStation Network exposing the personal information of 77 million users. Strike 2: One week later, a second security breach occurred on a different SONY network compromising 24.6 million users. Strike 3:  A third incident took place with the leakage of 2500 users’ names and addresses.  SONY admitted that this breach was due to human error on the part of their system management team. In a recent study from Application Security and Unisphere Research, more than 50% of the respondents felt that human error (or maliciousRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, School Safety

  A recent investigation of anti-bullying efforts in Minnesota schools revealed a major weakness across local school districts.  Most schools are not tracking bullying incidents…which makes it almost impossible to gauge the effectiveness of their bullying prevention and intervention efforts. So just how important (and expensive) is it when schools do not track and document bullying incidents? One of the major gaps we have seen when incidents are not documented is a failure to connect the dots and allow at-risk students and individuals to fall through the cracks. For example, Let’s take a look at the following scenario…student Bobby Jones is bullying other students inRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, School Safety

  May 17, 2011 is National Cyber Awareness day, as well as the release day for The Parent’s Guide to Texting, Facebook, and Social Media: Understanding the Benefits and Dangers of Parenting in a Digital World.  Awareity is proud to be a supporting launch partner for this excellent resource for parents. Has your child ever been the victim of cyberbullying? If not, the odds are pretty high that one day he or she will be. The sad fact is 50% of teens admit to being bullied online or by text message. Today’s youth are falling victim to the perils of social media and cell phone messaging.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Information Privacy, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance

  A review of security practices and investments at 46 global organizations finds that compliance with industry security standards actually saves money over the long-term.   A recent Ponemon Study revealed that companies that consistently comply with security requirements and standards save three times more in security-related expenses annually than non-compliant companies. Lessons Learned: Compliance does not equal security, but security can benefit from compliance.  Organizations investing in comprehensive compliance programs are better prepared to prevent expensive breaches, lawsuits, fines, etc. and save money and resources over time.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Financial, Human Resources, Information Privacy, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance, Risk Management

  Recent attacks continue to show that spear phishing is quickly emerging as one of the society’s greatest threats.  Technology alone is NOT going to solve this problem.  It is critical for consumers to be more vigilant and aware of what they are clicking on, sites they are visiting, e-mails they are responding to, etc. Lessons Learned:  Financial insitutions should make consumer education a higher priority.  Awareness training, handouts, seminars, etc. can be a great way for organizations to connect with their customers, improve trust, enhance reputations and help prevent potential incidents, breaches, lawsuits, etc. down the road.  Security awareness training and education can become aRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Business Continuity, Financial, Information Privacy

  OCEG recently announced poll results from a One Minute Poll about Policy Management.  In their poll, 429 members replied to the following question: How do you primarily manage lifecycle of internal policies, procedures and guidelines? 32% use an internally developed database or intranet system 24% have no formal structure 18% use file folders or centralized network drive 14% use document or policy management software  8% track changes in Word  4% use other methods   Lessons learned:  Bad guys already know what the results from this poll clearly reveal…People are an organization’s weakest links.  As long as 86% or more of organizations continue to useRead More →