Broader use of Technology Tools during COVID-19

Broader use of Technology Tools during COVID-19

July 09, 2020

In March, the provincial government implemented temporary changes to FIPPA guidelines, allowing the disclosure of personal information outside of Canada, spurred by the COVID-19 crisis and the transition to remote work, teaching, and learning for public institutions.

For UBC, the Ministerial Order presented increased opportunities to adopt technology to meet the needs of faculty, staff and students. The impact of this has benefited the campus community in a number of ways including the approval of video collaboration tools like Zoom for institutional use, the implementation of solutions to enable Virtual Graduation at both campuses, and the anticipated implementation of Microsoft Teams and One-Drive for collaboration for faculty, staff, and students by the fall term.

The increased reliance of technology has also increased the institution’s risk for cybersecurity-related incidents and criminal activity targeting COVID-19 researchers. In April, the UBC Executive mandated minimum cybersecurity precautions for remote work environments as a means to stay vigilant in safeguarding UBC information and networks.

The temporary Ministerial Order is extended now to December 31, 2020, driving higher expectations to pilot additional tools. All requests for new technological tools require a Privacy Impact Assessment – both to fulfill the FIPPA requirements and to better understand and mitigate against privacy and information risk. Faculties who are looking at additional technology tools as they begin fall planning are advised to work with their Engagement Services representative with UBC IT, review the PIA process, and submit their PIA request online.