The New Role of Information Managers

Find out how information management and security have morphed.

Keeping track of thousands of records, both paper and online, has become an increasingly overwhelming burden for information managers. Not just for you and everyone you know: Even the executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment weren’t above being the targets of a major hacker attack that served to embarrass the top executives of the studio and made public hundreds of thousands of confidential documents.

But the real shocker: A recent report documents that all the signs of a possible attack were there, and that the studio was simply ill-equipped to deal with it. An examination by Forbes recounts that “the Sony information security department was not secure.”

Information Security Is on the Rise. But Don’t Forget About All that Paper!

Despite so much more to manage with the online advances for documents, smart phones, mobile tablets, and wi-fi everywhere, it may be easy to disregard that plenty of crucial and crucially sensitive information is still on paper.

Let us introduce you to the Information Security Officer or ISO, a title you may have seen starting to pop up in larger companies, government agencies, and universities. In some businesses, it could be your records management or IT team taking on this new role. In smaller companies, you might already know this person—it could be you, the employee who already handles your records, the IT expert, — or all these roles could be one and the same person.

What does the ISO actually do?

Please be nice if you see your records manager or ISO around. Most likely, those employees are very overworked. And here’s why. In this increasingly complicated world of information security, the role of records management has grown, and can sometimes morph into a position that can also include Information Security.

In many ways, the roles require similar skills: Protecting information, checking for vulnerabilities, handling threats, and educating employees about information security, shredding practices, and retention compliance. (Not to mention making sure your password isn’t, you know: P-A-S-S-W-O-R-D.) For these security professionals, it’s just more of…everything.

Two Roles, One (Very Large) Hat

Doubling up roles is a common way that businesses handle these melding responsibilities. As Records Managers take on the added challenge of guarding against computer viruses, hackers, and computer-assisted fraud, it’s important not to forget about your paper documents.

You can stay on top of your added responsibilities by:

• using this records manager checklist to keep your records policies up-to-date
• provide ongoing training to your employees so they can support your efforts
• hire a professional records management company, to assist you with onsite paper shredding, chain of custody, and secure document storage