About WARPs

The aim of a WARP is to improve information security by stimulating better communication of warnings about threats, improving awareness and education, and encouraging incident reporting. Membership of a WARP can also reduce the costs of good security.

The National Local Authority WARP (NLAWARP) Project is actively promoting the CPNI WARP concept:

  • A typical WARP will consist of an operator who knows a little bit about IT security, but is mainly good at communicating with a group of WARP members.

  • There will usually be between 20 and 100 members, otherwise it can lose that personal touch, and they will belong to a community (small businesses, local government, service providers, interest groups etc etc).

  • The operator uses a website, email, telephone, SMS, and occasional meetings (where possible) to send a personalised service of warnings and advice to the members.

  • This will be mainly IT security advice (because there’s so much of it, and it changes so rapidly), but can include other material (other threats, e-crime, contingency planning etc) as well.

  • The Operator also taps into the knowledge of the members themselves to help out other members using a bulletin board, meetings and general communication skills.

  • A successful WARP will build up enough Trust to encourage members to talk about their own incidents & problems, anonymously, for the benefit of the rest (a bit like the ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ idea).

  • WARPs are small, personal and ‘Not-for-Profit’.

Why Join a WARP?

Local Authorities (LAs) play a crucial part in making the UK a better place to live through the services they provide. Increasingly, these services are being driven by information systems and their supporting Information and Communication Technology. As more services become available online, our dependency on these systems grows.

LAs working together and sharing information with other WARPs will be a harder target for electronic attack than working alone and therefore the risks against the information systems we all depend upon will be reduced.

Two real world examples of where WARPs have proven themselves useful can be found here.

What is the NLAWARP?

The NLAWARP is a project being run by Silverthorn Associates. We are firm believers in the benefits that WARP communites bring and believe that every Local Authority should be part of one.

The NLAWARP exists to serve two purposes:

  • To encourage the development of multiple, regional Local Authority WARPs.
  • To provide a centralised online services, to reduce the burden on individual WARPs.
How do I start a WARP?

Unfortunately,not all of the nine "GO- regions" currently have an active Local Authority WARP. If this is the case, there is a wide range of support available to help you start one.

The WARP website contains information which will help anyone build a WARP for any community (not just for Local Authorities). In addition to this, we at the NLAWARP would love to hear from, and support anyone who would either like to facilitate a Local Authority WARP or any authority who would like to join one.

If you are looking to set up a WARP yourself, we can:

  • Provide an insight into the trials and tribulations of setting up and running a Local Authority WARP.
  • Negotiate usage of our online services.
  • Assess whether there is demand for a WARP in the local area

If you would like your WARP to be operated by the NLAWARP, we can:

  • Assess whether there is demand for a WARP in the local area and help to "drum up" enthusism where needed.
  • Run regular meetings and workshops, with external speakers, allowing WARP members to make use of a wealth of industry knowledge and experience
  • Provide online "filtered warnings" and "advice brokering" and "incident reporting" services.
  • Provide an unique insight areas such as the National IA Strategy, Government Connect and Data Handling