Information Security Awareness Forum

The Information Security Awareness Forum was founded by the UK chapter of the Information Systems Security Association in 2008. Its objective is to create a co-ordinated cross-industry / cross-institution approach for delivering security awareness messages to large corporations, small and medium enterprises, and individuals. Membership of the forum comprises industry bodies and professional organisations that have a specific interest in promoting security awareness.

The forum is not seeking to “reinvent the wheel”. There already exists a lot of awareness materials for individuals as well as organisations. However there has been a lack of co-ordination, resulting in overlaps and gaps too. The forum brings together interested parties to work together to remove some of the overlaps, and to partner with organisations to fill some of the gaps.

The group has no plans to develop awareness materials where they already exist, so with their permission, will use materials from organisations such as Get Safe Online which already engages in awareness campaigns as well as being a suitable repository for the target audiences to reference.

Sponsorship

The forum receives no direct funding, and its participants work on a voluntary basis. Sponsorship of the forum is currently restricted to sponsorship of particular projects that the forum initiates.

Deliverables

One of the first deliverables of the forum is a Guide for Directors which is now available from the awareness forum's website This is a set of short guides covering different aspects of information security which directors of organisations need to be aware of. The guide is being developed in conjunction with BT and the Information Assurance Advisory Council , and is an example of how the forum engages with industry players through our support of projects focused around specific deliverables and outcomes.