Effective communication with users and the support of leadership are two keys for successful adoption of the Sensitive Information Remediation Project, better known as Project SIR.
That’s what Eric Richardson, with IT Operations within the Kenan-Flagler Business School, explains in his customer testimonial of the UNC-Chapel Hill Information Technology Services’ sensitive information remediation initiative, which launched a year ago.
In this campus-wide effort, ITS works with University departments and groups to provide the tools, procedures and reporting necessary to help data owners discover all of the sensitive information that they may have and to prove options to delete and/or secure such information.
In his testimonial, Richardson describes Kenan-Flagler’s experience with Project SIR:
“So far, we’ve been very successful with driving Project SIR at Kenan-Flagler. There are a number of reasons for that success, including how we’re approaching the project from a technical/strategic perspective. However, I think much of our success is the result of effective communication with our users and the support of school leadership.
We’ve made it a priority to have the security discussion with our faculty, staff and students for years now, so in some ways Project SIR is an extension of that. Whether it’s a communication from our CIO or a conversation with a staff member in the hallway, we’ve always made it a point to advocate the importance of information security.
The response from our users to the project so far has been overwhelmingly positive. We’ve even received thank you emails from employees who found sensitive data that they weren’t aware they had. Overall, our users seem very appreciative and supportive of the effort, as high-profile hacks and data breaches appear in the news more frequently. They understand the necessity of an initiative like SIR and how vital it is to protect University data.”