Data Security at SNHU

To the campus community:

As I’ve stated before, and probably will repeat again in the future, security of sensitive data at SNHU is a high priority for the Dept of Computing Resources (DCR) and needs to be a priority for everyone.  From the March 9, 2009 edition of Computerworld:

“Purdue University last month reported its seventh data breach in the past four years.  But Purdue is hardly alone.  Over 300 publicized privacy incidents have occurred at U.S. institutions of higher learning since 2001, with at least 53 colleges and universities experiencing multiple breaches.”

As most everyone knows, the leadership of SNHU authorized hiring of an Information Security Officer who has the responsibility of better securing our sensitive data.  As part of carrying out that responsibility, DCR is going to implement software commonly referred to as Data Loss Prevention (DLP) software.

DLP software answers three fundamental questions:
1.       Where is our sensitive data?  (discovery)
2.       How is it being used?  (monitoring)
3.       How do we prevent the loss of our sensitive data?  (protection)

This software will be implemented over the course of the next six months.  I anticipate that everyone will be affected by this software and as such everyone will have questions.  This brief communiqué is to introduce the concept of this software to everyone, to announce that we will be implementing this software at SNHU, and to assure everyone that more information will be forthcoming regarding how this software will affect our everyday life. 

Thank you,
Daryl Dreffs
Director of Computing Resources