Operation Parish Shield

“Every organization—large and small—should adopt a heightened posture when it comes to cybersecurity and protect their most critical assets against disruptive cyber incidents.” – Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)

Since the advent of the internet, computers and online tools have become an integral part of our ministry. We use databases to store information about our parishioners, social media to advertise parish events, and online accounting programs to track expenses and donations.

As a result, we are more vulnerable to online attacks than ever before. Despite the use of antivirus software, on average, six parishes within the Archdiocese of Boston fall victim to a cyber security scam each year, resulting in over $300,000 in losses, and potentially exposing the personal information of staff and parishioners.

To help protect against online threats, the Archdiocese has launched Operation Parish Shield (OPS). OPS is an Archdiocesan-wide initiative to protect parish and school computers and networks from cybercrime. Under this initiative, the Archdiocese has partnered with CISO Global, a global leader in cyber security services and solutions, to offer an advanced cyber security tool that is designed to prevent data breaches and the loss of personal information. This tool is available to download and use on parish and school computers at no cost to you. If unusual activity is detected, as is the case when a virus attempts to infect a computer, it can stop the attack before it occurs. This response happens in just a few seconds, while simultaneously sending an alert (via text message and email) to the parish or school IT team, who can further address the issue. Since time is of the essence during an attack, the response capabilities of this program are quite impressive. The program operates at the system process level and does not monitor or track specific use such as emails or web activity.

Since the program’s beginnings in 2023, 195 parishes and schools have enrolled and are currently participating. Over 1075 devices in the Archdiocese are being protected and 820 online exploits or suspicious events have been stopped.

OPS is being funded by the RCAB Risk Management Group and is being deployed and managed by the Parish Financial Services Department and the RCAB Information Technology Department. There is nothing to lose by participating in OPS. On the contrary, your parish or school will only benefit from an added layer of online security, without slowing down your computer speed or intruding on your daily online activity.

You May Pay More

Parishes that have chosen not to participate in Operation Parish Shield will be subject to a substantially higher cyber risk deductible. More details will follow as we approach the July renewal period.

Highlights

• Participating in OPS is free to your parish or school and the program comes with a $250,000 breach warranty.
• Personal information on your computer (emails, messages, web activity, etc.). remains secure and unavailable to the program.
• The program works in addition to antivirus software that may already be installed on your computer to provide an added layer of security against cyber threats. It works quickly. In less than 15 seconds, an attack can be detected, and a notification sent.
• The Program does not slow down your computer. You should not notice any change in your computer’s performance.

For more information on OPS, contact Joseph McEnness. Sign up is free, fast, and easy. You can get all your devices protected in less than 10 minutes.