Wealth of training films

One of my favorite sources of security awareness training films is Commonwealth Films. I have recently collected a series of reviews about some of their VHS and DVD videos that I have written over the years and posted them in HTML and PDF on my Web site.

They can be found at https://www2.norwich.edu/mkabay/infosecmgmt/videos/

The films are:

* The Best Defense – good introduction to commonsense security awareness covering password protection, data integrity, virus protection, disaster prevention and response, and fighting illegal duplication of proprietary software.

* Targets of Opportunity – an exciting case study of a major lapse in security as a top-secret document gets sent by accident to three different locations around the world by fax because someone carelessly included it along with some low-security pages intended for the CEO.

* The Plugged-In Mailbox – absolutely appalling but all-too-common lapses of judgment in the use of e-mail.

* For the Record – the Department of Justice is demanding records in an antitrust case and a company discovers it has awful records management.

* Back in Business – one of the best disaster recovery training films ever made.

* Look Out for Your Laptop – practical advice for road warriors.

* Get Net.Smart – e-mail and Web abuse at work, including a wretchedly credible story about someone who posts derogatory comments about a fellow employee in a public chat room and ends up getting sued for libel, along with her employer.

I’ve just received three more new DVDs from Commonwealth Films, which I’ll be reviewing soon and adding to my Web site:

* Ready for Anything – an updated take on business continuity and disaster recovery planning.

* Stolen Access – discussion of social engineering and common sense security, including discussion of wireless networking.

* Computer Virus Attack – coverage of the threat from malicious software, anti-virus software, persistent Internet connections and responding to infections.

As I have written in the longer reviews you will find on my Web site, the Commonwealth Films videos are not likely to win Academy Awards, but they were never intended to do so. They are professionally produced, interesting, fast-moving, never boring, technically correct, highly informative, and definitely motivating. All of them involve subject-matter experts from industry and government to provide technical assistance.

All Commonwealth Films training videos are available for inspection before you buy them; the sample versions come with prominent NOT FOR TRAINING banners and FOR PREVIEW ONLY stickers but are otherwise fully functional for evaluation.

Commonwealth Films has allowed me to use its demo DVDs for teaching in my college and university courses; however, I have no financial interest in the company, nor have my reviews ever been written as a function of their courtesy.

I just like their stuff and so have my students. In particular, I want to thank David Burke, customer service manager, for his kindness over many years. Thanks, Dave!