Comprehensive IT Infrastructure Assessment: Premier Collegiate School

This report presents an assessment of the IT infrastructure of Premier Collegiate School, evaluating its current state and identifying potential areas for improvement. The assessment begins with an executive summary that outlines the scope and objectives of the analysis, followed by a classification of IT assets into their respective domains. A key aspect of the report involves a Privacy Impact Assessment, which addresses FERPA compliance to protect student data. The assets are classified into critical, major, and minor categories based on their security risk profiles, and quantitative values are assigned to each asset based on replacement costs. The assessment highlights the importance of prioritizing the security of the administrative and student servers due to their critical role and potential threat levels. The report includes an assessment table summarizing the key findings, including asset details, IT domains, privacy data impact assessments, and quantitative values. Finally, the report provides a bibliography of the sources used in the assessment.

Contents
Executive Summary..................................................................................................................................3
Assessment...............................................................................................................................................4
Bibliography................................................................................................................................................5

Executive Summary
A survey of the IT infrastructure of the school was conducted to assess the IT
infrastructure strategy that might be needed in order to optimize the performance of the
Information Technology Infrastructure (excluding phones) of the school.
A list of all IT assets currently in operation at the school was drawn up and these were
classified into their respective IT domains. (Simple Security, 2015) Classification of
infrastructure helps in better management of infrastructure since it helps understand the
relevant stake holders, people in charge and processes to followed with regards to
maintenance and repairs of the infrastructure. (McKinsey and Company, 2011)
A Privacy Impact Assessment is also included. The Privacy Impact Assessment reports
whether FERPA compliance steps are to be taken in the protection of the given asset or
not. FERPA is the U.S. ‘Family Education Rights and Privacy Act’. FERPA regulations
mandate that the school protects the online privacy of students and take all the
necessary steps to ensure protection of the general records of the student such as
name, personal address, contact details, performance in school or any other private
data. (U.S. Department of Education, 2015)
In addition, all assets were classified into three classes viz. Critical, Major, and Minor in
order to understand how the assets that must be prioritized from the point of view of
security risk profile.
The Quantitative Value was judged from secondary data collected online and
reasonable cost estimates that were drawn thereupon. These cost estimates describe

the ‘replacement costs’ and not the actual depreciated cost of the assets since this not
an accounting exercise and the exercise seeks to provide an assessment of the
possibilities of maintenance and repairs. These estimates describe the cost of replacing
the asset and do not reflect the cost of protection, operation, maintenance and repair
costs of any asset.
The assets that must receive the highest security priority are the two servers from the
point of view of the threat level, their impact of the rest of the infrastructure, replacement
costs and compliance with FERPA regulations. They contain systems and applications
that are essential to the smooth functioning to the rest of the infrastructure. Additionally,
the threat level is highest since various entities require indirect access to the servers.
Assessment
Table 1 Assessment of the IT Infrastructure of the Premiere Collegiate School
(Simple Security, 2015) (U.S. Department of Education, 2015)
Asset IT Domain Privacy Data
Impact
Assessment
Critical/
Major/
Minor
Quantitative
Value
($)
Administrative Server
(1)
Systems and
Applications
Domain
FERPA:
Contains
Customer
Privacy Data
Critical $10,000
Student Server (1) LAN to WAN FERPA: Critical $5,000

Domain Contains and
Accesses
Customer
Privacy Data
Desktops in Teachers’
Lounge (10)
Workstation FERPA:
Contains
Customer
Privacy Data
Major $750 X 10
$7500
Desktops used by
Administrative Staff
Work Station FERPA:
Contains
Customer
Privacy Data
Minor $750 X 10
$7500
Wired and Wireless
Internet Connection
for Student Notebooks
LAN FERPA:
Accesses
Privacy data
Major $5000
User accounts of Ms.
At www.facebook.com
and www.myspace.co.
WAN None Minor $0
Bibliography
McKinsey and Company. (2011, June 17). Risk IT and Operations: Strenghening
Capabilities. Retrieved January 14, 2018, from McKinsey:
https://www.mckinsey.com/risks/pdfs

Simple Security. (2015, February 26). Module 9: the Seven Domains of a Typical IT
Infrastructure. Retrieved January 14, 2018, from www.youtube.com:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUa13H9fjug
U.S. Department of Education. (2015, June 06). FERPA: General Guidance for
Students. Retrieved January 14, 2017, from U.S Department of Education: Law and
Guidance/General: https://ww2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/students.html