Operations

Once you go live with a fully functional WARP with a filtered warning system, an advice brokering facility, and an incident reporting capability, your role changes from implementation to operation. There is a danger. Information security is such a wide and fascinating subject that it can easily capture your imagination and take over every spare moment you have. Remember the purpose of your WARP: to deliver relevant alerts and warnings, to help your colleagues discuss and solve their problems, and to create and maintain a secure computing environment for your colleagues and users.

You have a choice. You can respond to the alerts you receive (via your RSS feeds, for example) as quickly as possible; or you can arrange your time to allow a set period each day for WARP operations. On average, it shouldn't take much more than an hour each day - but the nature of information security is that it can take all the time you give it.

The daily WARP tasks will largely comprise the following:

• monitor incoming alerts and select those that you consider relevant or important to your Members

• use your filtered warnings system to extract the important elements and despatch to your Members

• monitor the system for new subscription requests, and process existing requests

• monitor your advice brokering facility

• if it requires moderation, it is best to do so as quickly as possible (users rapidly lose heart and stop using an unresponsive system)

• if it is unmoderated, it is still best to monitor the system frequently in order to

• ensure that requests are written intelligibly and unambiguously

• ensure that no spam has got through

• to kick start discussions and advice that get stuck

• receive and store or post and store any incident reports

if you use the FWA software you can use it to also

• provide a security news service

• deliver relevant best practice guides

Longer term tasks will include:

• Promoting the social networking side of the WARP. It is important to get your Members together face-to-face. This could range, for the sake of argument, from informal evenings at a local pub, to organized events that could be sponsored by security vendors and include talks on current security issues.

• Recruit new Members! Ultimately, you are looking to have every school in your area as a Member of your WARP.

You now have an operational WARP which you can market to members. Marketing can and should be a continuous process and flyers and logos are available in this WARP for schools Toolbox to help you with this activity.

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