Page 10 - GCN, Jan/Feb 2016

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READ ME
BY KATHLEEN HICKEY
What: ACT-IAC’s “Strengthening Federal Cybersecurity: Results of the Cyber Innovation Ideation Initiative.”
Why: ACT-IAC solicited input
from industry, government and academia on ways agencies could strengthen cybersecurity. From the nearly 200 ideas submitted, the report provides eight broad recommendations:
1. Focus on fundamentals. Maintain accurate inventories of IT assets, follow standards and increase staff accountability.
2. Secure business systems. Understand cybersecurity risks
in daily operations, and improve asset management and access controls across systems.
3. Speed breach response. Incorporate signature-based techniques, penetration testing and greater staff awareness.
4. Adopt multilayered security. Focus on protecting data and transition to a network of secured systems.
5. Share threat intelligence information. Share data with
the vendor community and
other agencies and standardize information-sharing processes.
6. Modify the search for cyber talent. Reach out to students, seek talented individuals in-house and via hackathons, and focus on performance-based training.
7. Make risk management an executive-level responsibility. Shift the focus from compliance to risk management.
8. Build security into acquisition. Adopt a process that is agile, dynamic and responsive.
Full report: is.gd/GCN_cyber
10 GCN JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2016 • GCN.COM
Hooking up with Tinder to encourage organ donation
BY AMANDA ZIADEH
Ohio’s Swipe to Donate Life program won a 2015 GCN Award for its ag- gressive use of mobile technology to encourage state residents to opt into the organ donation program. The United Kingdom, however, is tak- ing mobile outreach to a whole new level.
The U.K.’s National Health Service Blood and Transplant unit is partner- ing with Tinder, a popular mobile app for meeting people, to raise awareness about organ donation. NHS’ “The Wait” campaign aims to draw attention to the search for a different kind of match — the chal- lenging wait for a donor.
NHS has created three Tinder pro- files that include the Organ Donor Register’s pink heart logo for British actors Jamie Laing and Gemma Oaten and Welsh Olympic gold med- alist Jade Jones. When users between the ages of 18 and 35 swipe on the profiles, the agency said, they will become a “match” and receive a mes- sage that reads, “If only it was that easy for those in need of a lifesaving organ to find a match.”
The message includes statistics about the number of people wait- ing for transplants in the U.K. and a direct link to the NHS Organ Donor Register as part of an effort to help the nearly 7,000 people on the coun- try’s transplant waiting list.
“Educating and encouraging people to sign up for organ dona- tion — that’s what our partnership with Tinder is all about,” said Sally Johnson, director of organ donation and transplantation at NHS.
Ohio’s program allows people to opt into the organ donation program when they sign up for or renew
their driver’s licenses. It uses a card reader attached to an iPad and an app capable of capturing current contact information from the driver’s licenses. The program has dramati- cally increased the number of donor registrations.
By accessing the Tinder user base, NHS officials hope their efforts will achieve a similar outcome. “With the help of these [customized] profiles on Tinder, we’ll grab people’s at- tention and throw a spotlight on
the importance of organ donation,” Johnson said. •
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