Terrorism awareness education for IT professionals

A workshop for those who manage, own and build IT networks, facilities and infrastructure is being run to provide them with comprehensive information on the threats posed by terrorism.

The workshop will equip senior executives, property owners, risk managers, engineers, IT managers, and others with the knowledge to effectively consider the risks of terrorism in their work.This has become essential as the Commonwealth has advised industry that "risk assessment processes should consider terrorism in all its forms" and that it should be applying the Australian Risk Management Standard to treat the threat of terrorism. (Commonwealth National Counter Terrorism Committee, 2003)."For practitioners to do this effectively, it requires that they have sufficient background knowledge on terrorism to make informed decisions", said Athol Yates, manager of the Engineering a Secure Australia project by Engineers Australia. Yates added: "However, unless you are a manager of a high profile icon or element deemed to be critical infrastructure, you have very little access to advice from the intelligence and law enforcement agencies."This lack of knowledge undermines the effectiveness of risk management, as its starting point is a sound knowledge of the strategic context."Clive Williams, one of Australia's most experienced terrorism experts, will run the morning workshop session, followed by Chandler Comerford, Managing Director for the Vulnerability Assessment Group (VAG). The workshops will be held in Sydney on 26 November and in Melbourne on 27 November. More details can be found at: www.safeguardingaustralia.org.au/TerrorismRiskSeminar.html

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