ISACA Vancouver Chapter Announces BC Privacy and Security Awareness Day

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Jan. 30, 2014) - ISACA Vancouver is spearheading a collaborative effort to promote privacy and security awareness in the Province of British Columbia. To that end, February 6, 2014 has been designated as B.C. Privacy & Security Awareness Day.

ISACA Vancouver is taking a leadership role in promoting privacy and security awareness throughout the Province. B.C. Privacy & Security Awareness Day is a "call to arms" to draw focus to and inform citizens of the potential risks associated with cyberspace and use of the Internet. ISACA Vancouver and its partners are working together to provide simple and practical advice on minimizing British Columbians' exposure to these risks.

ISACA Vancouver has partnered with industry leaders CGI (www.cgi.com), TELUS WISE^® (https://wise.telus.com), and Coast Capital Savings (www.coastcapitalsavings.com) who are backing this initiative with their collective resources and influence as platinum sponsors.

B.C. Privacy & Security Awareness Day is unique as a community-based awareness day aimed at the general public. With the current proliferation of personal mobile devices such as cell phones and tablets constantly moving between home and corporate networks, we are hyper-connected, and our collective IT savvy is essential to ensuring our privacy and our security.

ISACA Vancouver will host a reception to formally launch this initiative on February 5th from 4:00 - 6:30pm in Salon C of the Victoria Conference Centre. The reception will also kick-off the BC Government's 15th Annual Privacy & Security Conference to be held from February 5 - 7 in Victoria, BC. Political, security and privacy leaders will be participating in the event and will take a leadership role including Andrew Wilkinson, Minister of Technology, Innovation & Citizens' Services and Elizabeth Denham, BC's Information & Privacy Commissioner.

"Our government recognizes that educating and informing citizens about how to protect their personal information and manage their digital footprint is very important," Minister Wilkinson said regarding this initiative, "it is great to see the efforts that ISACA Vancouver and the broader privacy and security communities have undertaken in this regard."

ISACA Vancouver encourages the media to help promote the importance of privacy and security awareness in the Province of BC by attending a press conference where distinguished guests and BC's privacy and security leaders will be available for interviews prior to the reception from 3:00 - 4:00pm.

Municipal Governments: "It's important for local governments to continually make investments to protect the privacy and security of our residents," said Dean Fortin, Dianne Watts, & Gregor Robertson, the Mayors of Victoria, Surrey & Vancouver. "BC Privacy and Security Awareness Day is a unique, community-based initiative that will help create an engaged and informed citizenry. On behalf of the Cities of Victoria, Surrey, and Vancouver the Mayors congratulate ISACA Vancouver's inaugural event as it celebrates February 6th as British Columbia Privacy and Security Awareness Day."

CGI: "Working with 95 governments and agencies in Canada, CGI understands the importance of protecting the information and privacy of citizens-it's what we proudly do every day," said John Proctor, Vice President, Global Security and Privacy Services, CGI. "As platinum sponsor, CGI is proud to be part of the dialogue-and the actions that will no doubt stem from this important conference."

TELUS: "The creation of B.C. Privacy and Security Awareness day will help draw attention to the potential dangers of the Internet, and helpful solutions available to Canadians," said Shelly Smith, who is responsible for TELUS' WISE program. "We all have a role to play in keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe on the Internet, which is why we created TELUS WISE, a free resource providing Canadians with the tools they need to protect themselves from things like identity theft and cyber bullying."

Coast Capital Savings: "With the technology options now available, banking doesn't require a physical location," "explains Erwin Martinez, Chief Information Officer at Coast Capital Savings. "We encourage banking online and through our mobile site. You can't beat the convenience. However, it does come with a different set of privacy and security concerns. Having a day dedicated to educating British Columbians on the risks and how they can protect themselves is fantastic. It is a dual responsibility and Coast Capital Savings will continue to aggressively invest in the protection of our members and their finances."

About ISACA

With more than 110,000 constituents in 180 countries, ISACA® (www.isaca.org) helps business and IT leaders maximize value and manage risk related to information and technology. Founded in 1969, the non-profit, independent ISACA is an advocate for professionals involved in information security, assurance, risk management and governance. These professionals rely on ISACA as the trusted source for information and technology knowledge, community, standards and certification.

The ISACA Vancouver Chapter's goal is to promote the practices and the development of professionals in IT risk, governance of enterprise IT, information security management, and IT assurance within the local business and academic community, the chapter membership, and with future members throughout the Greater Vancouver area by sponsoring local educational seminars and workshops, as well as conducting regular chapter meetings. Descriptions and times of upcoming sessions can be found at www.isaca-vancouver.org under Chapter Events.

Please visit our website: www.bcaware.ca.