It’s always good to be prepared. The District 153 technology team is taking that to heart by developing an Incident Response Plan (IRP) it will be using in the event of a technology emergency.
Beth White, the district’s director of technology, said the district does everything it can to prevent problems but nothing is fool-proof. That’s why she worked with a select 15-member committee that included representatives from the technology staff, teachers from each school, administrators and a technology consultant to come up with the plan.
“We want to be as prepared as possible,” she told members of the District 153 board of education during the June 13 meeting. The team worked to design the IRP to help minimize damage to the district’s network and help staff limit any possible disruptions.
The IRP has several objectives:
- Identifying and documenting critical data systems.
- Assessing threat events and their impact, such as a critical system crash, a Ransomware infection, or a power outage.
- Developing guidelines for employees to report an event or incident.
- Assigning responsibility for evaluating, responding to and managing security incidents.
- Developing guidelines for employees to follow.
- Reporting procedures and determining whether the event is escalating to a point where it requires intervention.
- Providing clear lines of responsibility for declaring an incident and putting the IRP in place.
White said the committee’s work included an assessment of all the software the district uses and what data relate to each software package – from a student’s personal information to grades to employment records.
The students in the district now use devices for classwork and homework. White said a serious incident could directly impact student learning. The committee also prepared memos with information related to the incident that could be sent to parents outlining what the district would do to mitigate problems on the District 153 network.
There is a technology person at each building who can act as a school liaison should the technology department discover a problem.
The IRP will be reviewed yearly and updated when appropriate, White said.