The Leaving Certificate (“the Leaving”) is the final exam of the Irish secondary school system.

So, first up, a Public Safety Announcement: The results of the Leaving will be published tomorrow (Friday, August 23).

Anyone in Ireland knows this means the pubs will be packed with (16) 18 year olds this weekend.

 

A walk down memory lane..

I remember my final year leading up to the Leaving.

We all studied past exam papers more intensely than any school book, as we all tried to find the inside track on what we’d be asked in the exam.

Even teachers got in on it, telling us about a friend who had a friend who had a friend who, it was rumoured, was involved in setting the exam questions.

For everyone that year, the most important question was always the same:

“Is this likely to come up in the exam?”

 

What has this got to do with cyber security?

I have been helping businesses improve their cyber security for many years.

Many seek my help when a large client or prospect asks them to answer a security questionnaire.

Guess what the first question in these questionnaires tends to be?

“Has your organisation been independently certified to any national and/or international security standards (e.g. ISO 27001)?”

 

So what?

If you have, or want to have, large or regulated clients, you should accept that this question will definitely come up in your exam.

Because the sooner you accept this, the sooner you can work on improving your answer.

 

Where should you start?

At a minimum, you should assess how much work would be involved to enable you to answer YES to the question.

 

(PS I can’t help you deal with drunken teenagers. But I can help you assess and align your security to the requirements of ISO 27001. You can learn more here.)