COOP Planning: IT Security Perspective
Jun 26, 2024
ISS is invested in securing users’ and university data during regular operations and emergent or unusual situations. One of the best ways we can support users during unexpected circumstances is by adding IT preparations to your Contingency of Operations Plans (COOP). COOP plans are instructions and procedures that are predetermined before an emergency occurs. They are important for ensuring that your unit or department can perform essential operations during an emergency or other type of event that prevents normal operations from running. It is best practice to develop a COOP plan so that you know how your unit or department will run if an event occurs that prevents you from accessing information technology services for 1 to 30 days.
When developing a COOP plan, take “CIA” into consideration: Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability. Using this “CIA” triad, consider the following when developing your COOP plan to maintain the continuity of the services that you rely on for your units’ operations.
- Identify your unit’s critical business functions.
- Identify the data required for each critical business function in your unit.
- Identify your unit’s IT service dependencies for each critical business function.
When you have this information compiled, it makes it easier for your unit to not only secure your data, but also to spot potential IT security threats and incidents.
In the event of an IT security incident such as:
- Clicking on a phishing link
- Responding to phishing
- Malware or weird behavior on your workstation or laptop
- Suspected data loss
- Compromised server
- Vendor-reported security incident
Contact the OIT Service Desk at 303-724-HELP or oit-servicedesk@cuanschutz.edu.
If you have any questions about how to add these goals into your COOP plan, please reach out to ISIC at
IT-Security@cuanschutz.edu or IT-Security@ucdenver.edu, and a member of our team will be happy to assist you and answer your questions. Together we can help secure the university.
For more detailed information about what to include in your COOP regarding information technology and IT security, please visit the ISIC website and login with your university credentials to view the webpage.
