With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility- Volaire

This quote was probably originally from Voltaire, but it was recently made popular by Uncle Ben in Spiderman.  Since the Red Cross steps in and acts in a heroic fashion this too applies to their work and to the power of the technology and tools they wield in their hands.   Connecting with people at their most vulnerable times allows them special information and resources that must be safeguarded in our ever-shrinking world.  They must seek to protect victim's identities.  They also have the trust and faith of most people as the go to organization in times of disaster to donate or find ways to help.  Ben Franklin. said "It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it. "  With this in mind an organization like the Red Cross must safeguard its donors financial information.

Fitzgerald put it this way, the Red Cross, is well aware of the cyber activities, and are developing methods and procedures daily to “improve privacy management in the event of a breach” (Fitzgerald, D., 2012).  Being aware of problem and know that it needs to be tackled is an important part of an organizations response.  The Red Cross also uses key leaders to put into place measures and continually strives to better their online security.  The American Red Cross has held yearly summit meetings to discuss, negotiate, develop strategies, and rectify cyber security threats to the organization, and the entirety.  The CEO’s of the organization, the boards, (stakeholders- CEO’s, CIO, Internal Audit, CFO, CTO, Compliance and Legal Team), meet to establish measures to combat the cyber activity (Fitzgerald, D., 2012).  People give regularly to the Red Cross and it is important that they continue to feel safe doing so. 

When we turn our topic for discussion to “Balancing Business Enablers versus Business Risks” we see some reoccurring themes (Fitzgerald, D., 2012).  Under that category, there are regulatory government (scrutiny measures), data loss prevention (customer data), social media (cyber threats), mobile & emerging technology (cloud computing), threats & vulnerability management (hard-drive information), and cyber crisis management.  These could effect not only the disaster reaction of the orgnaiztion, but the education network.  Previously we had mentioned how volunteers private information is stored on the network and this information is allow them to work with Red Cross 

With these security risks in the background, American Red Cross has increased security mandates, boards are not accepting technology that could potentially pose a threat or harm the organization’s entirety. 

 They are working on how to protect the sensitive data in addition to making sure vulnerabilities to corporate assets are protected.   This is an ongoing project. 

Stakeholders are accountable for developing strategies for security risks management and privacy control.

Security risks in association with the organizations customers, partners, and suppliers, the American Red Cross had “never considered those individuals to as threats until the past 24 months” (Fitzgerald, D., 2012). Once they were considered a risk more was done to counteract the risk.

  Regarding mobile devices and social media, new safeguards are constantly being invented to protect the organization from security hackers that could affect that technology. The main concern was with the hand-held mobile devices and employees within the organization.  Since then, strategies have been incorporated enabling the corporation to stay abreast and monitor organization technology activities. 

It will be an ongoing effort in insure the safety and security  of all cyber areas for this great organization! 

 

References

Daniel.w.fitzgerald@us.pwc.com

Fitzgerald, D., (2012). Development national frameworks & engaging the private sector: focus on information/cyber security risk management [Multimedia]. Retrieved from Fitzgerald, D., website.

www.pwc.com

www.redcross.org