Colchester Borough Council: Securing Information Assurance with automated Policy Management

By E Bankhead

July 22, 2010

User Awareness and Policy Compliance – The Foundation of Information Assurance
User awareness is fundamental to Colchester Borough Council’s Information Assurance objectives. The requirements for automating this area of Information Assurance is driven by the increasing importance of data handling and data security for which a number of legislative and regulatory initiatives have been introduced including the Government Connect Standard (GCSx), PCI DSS, ISO27001 and adherence to the Data Protection Act.  It is imperative that Colchester Borough Council are able to ensure understanding and compliance amongst staff,elected Members and trusted third parties and provide demonstrable evidence of awareness and engagement activities.

Colchester Borough Council was aware that the passive compliance methods of employee communication, such as email and corporate intranet, would not allow them to fulfil their regulatory obligations.  An enhanced, sustainable strategy for Information Assurance was required, one that would deliver continuous and repeatable user awareness and accountability right across the Authority and thus demonstrate their “duty of care”.  Colchester Borough Council realised that in order to achieve this effectively, it required a dedicated compliance automation tool, one that would meet their best practice requirements.

After going to the market, Colchester Borough Council has selected MetaCompliance Advantage, the market leading IT Assurance awareness solution, to assist in underpinning their user awareness and employee engagement programmes. 

Phil Pettit, Colchester Borough Council’s ICT Programme Manager, said of the new deal, "Implementing a successful and cost-effective Information Assurance strategy to meet compliance regulations can be a time-consuming task for Local Government.  MetaCompliance Advantage has been selected to aid the Council in simplifying the process of complying and reporting on staff awareness and policy compliance against the GCSx, PCI DSS, ISO27001 and the Data Protection Act 1998.  We are confident that MetaCompliance will deliver greater efficiencies and confidence in the Authority’s Governance stature."

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