Mission-driven Cyber Security - A UNICEF, UN Women and UNICC Event

Joint agency workshop on information protection and data privacy

Speakers Kadiatou Sall-Beye (ITU), Soren Thomassen (UN Women), Aldo Gomera (PAHO), Diana Rusu (UN Women) and Mila Romanoff (UN Global Pulse)

UNICEF, UN Women and UNICC hosted an all-day information security best practices workshop on October 29, 9:00-5:00 p.m. with the idea that cybersecurity can be a driver of programme delivery in a UN Agency, rather than an afterthought. Cybersecurity can be central to the new UN Strategy on New Technologies and central to an Agency’s core mission and mandate. A strong cybersecurity strategy fuels agency innovation and growth. It reduces costs and lowers risks, while also making Agencies more efficient and inventive. It helps with the development of digital offerings and business models that help Agencies win. It helps with the development of digital offerings and business models that help Agencies win. It is central to information protection and data privacy. There were forty participants from UN Women, UNICEF, UNICC, UNJSPF, IMD and UNFPA.

UNICC’s roles included assisting UNICEF with the facilitation and setup of the event, as well as three presentations (from Tima Soni, Nitesh Kudva and Tom Beulens – see below).

Today’s rapid digital and technological transformations have brought us to another critical moment. They inspire hope of immense benefits that can elevate the human condition everywhere.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Strategy on New Technologies

Challenges and opportunities abound – data privacy and information protection remain paramount. Cyber security is a mission-enabler. Investments in digital business solutions and innovation require oversight, an enterprise outlook, with a view to integration points and security risk mitigation. Bring IT into the light through best practices by embedding security standards in programme delivery.

Description/goals: This will be an all-day workshop sponsored by UNICEF, UN Women and UNICC on the role of cyber security and information protection and data privacy best practices in delivering on organizational missions and mandates. The goal is knowledge sharing between CISOs, business units and stakeholders to highlight successes and discuss current challenges.

Venue: UN Women HQ, 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017, 19th floor, 9-5 pm (+/- 50 people)
Participants: UN Agency stakeholders in security; CIOs and CISOs, procurement management, information security and ICT management personnel, programme staff, etc. including NY-based UN Agencies: UNICEF; UNICC; UN Women; UNFPA; UNJSPF, PAHO, ITU, UNFCU, IMD, etc.

Speakers:

Soren Thomassen Chief, Information Systems and Telecommunications, UN Women
Chris Larsson Chief, Deputy Director of Strategy, Risk Management and Governance, UNICEF
Jorge Torres, Chief, IT Security, UNICEF
Mila Romanoff, Legal and Privacy Specialist, UN Global Pulse
Aldo Gomera, Information Security Officer, PAHO
Kadiatou Sall-Beye, Project Officer, LDCs, ITU
Diana Rusu, Innovation and Knowledge Management for Women’s Economic Empowerment, UN Women

Panel: Speakers above plus:

Tima Soni, Chief Information Security Officer, UN Women

Panel Moderator: Chris Larsson Deputy Director of Strategy, Risk Management and Governance, UNICEF

Afternoon Workshop Speakers above plus:

Tom Buelens, Information Security Specialist, UNICEF (from UNICC)
Nitesh Kudva, Information Security Specialist, UN Women (from UNICC)

Summary: The goal of the UN Secretary-General’s Strategy on New Technologies is to define how the United Nations system will support the use of technology to accelerate the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Cyber Security can be a natural partner to help get this right.

This workshop highlighted what UN Agencies have been up to on this front. Over recent years UN Women, UNICEF and UNICC (as well as UNDP, PAHO, IMF and others) have gone through significant changes in their ICT delivery model and cyber security postures. These have led to streamlined, secure and cost-effective solutions with an increased awareness of IT process improvement as well as a cultural shift towards IT as a service to the organization. Programme staff, solutions centre resources, business relationship managers, procurement, legal, and ICT stakeholders can learn a lot about optimising their delivery of the work these organizations deliver.

Aligning organizational operations and Information/cyber security:
Information protection and data privacy
Advancing organizational mandates with strong cyber security framework
Aligning cyber security to organizational mandates
Aligning IT/Information Security with procurement of ICT services/solutions procurement
Capturing and classifying assets. A waste-of-time and an Investment
Security Assurance Testing and Reviews
Business driven Risk Management
Operationalisation
Striking a balance with internal and external resources
Pressures, pain points and organizational challenges
ISO YES or ISO NO.