Safeguarding First Nations through data sovereignty
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY — Wahnapitae First Nation’s Patrique Paquette enjoyed learning more about IT and security issues during the AFOA Ontario IT Security and Information Protection Workshop, held Feb. 24-25 at Delta Hotels Thunder Bay. The workshop featured training to build skills to safeguard IT systems, protect sensitive data, and maintain operational continuity.
“I found the conference very interesting, a lot of information,” says Paquette, communications assistant in Wahnapitae First Nation, noting that he has an IT background. “It was very interesting to see information being presented for the different audiences because we did have some finance people in the crowd, some HR people in the crowd, as well as a lot of IT professionals.”
Paquette says the workshop provided the IT professionals with information on how to speak with other people in their organizations about creating policies in order to make sure everything stays secure, and that it’s something that everybody in the organization has to be a part of.
“It’s not just the IT professional’s role — the users are a big part of it, you have to make sure they are knowledgeable, you have to make sure they are constantly being kind of tested for potential phishing threats or things like that,” Paquette says.
Paquette says the workshop garnered great engagement with the presenter.
“It was good, it was very interactive,” Paquette says. “A lot of people asked a lot of questions.”
Kevin Kozielec, cyber security facilitator for AFOA, says his presentation focused on the digital world for First Nation organizations and some tips and tricks that participants could implement or ask their IT people to implement in their community or organization.
“Our focus is really on trying to make sure IT understands that their job is no longer just IT,” Kozielec says. “You’re really the new guardians of the data because you have to make sure that as we get our data back and we move more into the data sovereignty piece, protecting that data and being the new guardians of that data, you have to make sure you understand the best security practices to be able to protect that data.”
Kozielec says he stressed the importance of having good habits in order to stay safe when using IT.
“If you have good habits in place, and good habits are slow down, ask questions, stop, don’t click, think about things, is there a sense of urgency to what they’re asking me, because it’s always a key indicator,” Kozielec says. “So really, it’s sending [participants] home with tangible things — if I had known that beforehand, I probably wouldn’t have clicked that link.”
Stanley Sabourin, vice-president at AFOA Ontario and Netmizaaggamig Nishnaabeg citizen, says the workshop included some of the programs that can be used to secure IT systems, firewalls, how to create a budget for the programs they are going to use, and how to develop training for staff.
“The other part of the workshop was to enhance people’s knowledge and participation in relation to the various programs they work in, for example, finance, health, public works, education, in collecting and securing all that data in relation to the First Nation or the communities they work in and represent,” Sabourin says.
Sabourin says each of the participants also talked about a scenario that happened in their community or workplace.
“For example, like a cyber attack, who do you contact first? Who do you report first?” Sabourin says. “No matter how small the glitch may be in the system, you always report it to your supervisor.”