As CISO of the VU, I work daily - together with a great team of security officers - on information security, data classification and secure storage. That may sound abstract, but it touches on something very concrete: keeping track of what you store, and where. Now that I am moving back home, I notice that exactly the same questions are also playing out in my private life. What do you keep where? How do you keep an overview? What do you throw away? And what do you keep physically, or digitally?
When packing up my home office, I notice how strong emotions can come into play. "That notebook from that one conference... I still want to keep that." But then my rational side also chimes in: "Do you really need it? Are you ever going to use it again?". Meanwhile, I want to keep a grip: everything neatly ordered, labelled, in the right box. I can spend hours doing that.
It reminds me of the digital world within the VU. There, too, we are constantly searching for the right balance between storing, organising and letting go. Fortunately, things are much better organised there. Within the VU we have clear agreements about what belongs where:
- Research data are safely stored in SciStor, ResearchDrive or Yoda. Take a look at the research data classification policy and the research data classification policy
- Teaching and business documents? Those belong in our Microsoft 365 environment (employees), such as OneDrive and SharePoint. If you need help organising your documents, the DMA (Document Management and Archive) team can help with that at askthearchive@vu.nl
- How long do you keep what? Our DMA team knows exactly. They deal with retention periods and data destruction and which documents you really need to destroy in time Check out the Document Management and Archive page.
So, as CISO, I don't have to manage everything myself. My job - together with my colleagues - is to facilitate safe and orderly storage areas. And that gives peace of mind. Hopefully, as a VU employee, you will experience the same tranquillity in your digital working environment. And don't forget to empty your digital trash from time to time. If only it were that easy at home...
At home, I have no SciStor, Research Drive or Yoda. No retention policy. No metadata. Just me, a pile of boxes and the question, "Where do I leave this later? And will I ever find it again?". Maybe it's time to establish my own 'home DMA policy'. Or - even better - just let go more often.
Questions or do you want to reply to this blog? - Contact our Chief Information Security Officer
Irma Meinema: ciso@vu.nl