Our organization, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Saint John, is one of 91 agencys across Canada. Our Office 365 Accounts are provided and managed by our National Office's IT team. As a local BBBS agency, we are committed to protecting the personal information of the children, families, volunteers, and community partners we serve.

As we grow and adapt our local operations to an increasingly digital environment, we recognize the need to strengthen our local agency's cybersecurity posture to ensure our information handling policies and practices compliment those that BBBS of Canada oversees/manages and are based upon best practices and standards.

We are seeking support from Riipen Level UP students to audit our current local agency's cybersecurity and data handling procedures, help us to assess risks and vulnerabilities, and provide practical recommendations for a small non-profit to improve security, compliance, and operational efficiency.

This project will involve the following steps:

• Conducting a cybersecurity needs assessment tailored to our small non-profit, considering our unique federated model of BBBS.
• Reviewing our current IT infrastructure and policies related to data storage, sharing, and access control.
• Identifying gaps or vulnerabilities in current practices.
• Researching cybersecurity best practices for a small non-profit and local agency within the BBBS of Canada structure.
• Recommending improvements to policies, practices, training, or tools.
• Proposing a basic implementation or awareness/training strategy for staff.

By the end of the project, students should demonstrate:

• An understanding of our organizational structure and data handling needs.
• A review and risk assessment of current cybersecurity and data protection practices.
• Recommendations for practical, cost-effective improvements in information handling, digital security, and data privacy.
• A sample communication or training brief to introduce staff to the new or revised practices.

Final deliverables should include:

• A cybersecurity and information handling assessment report.
• A list of recommended changes or enhancements (policies, tools, training).
• A 10-minute presentation summarizing key findings and next steps.