09/10/2024 – On 8 and 9 October 2024, the Global Forum Secretariat held its 2024 “Information Security Management Days (ISM Days)”, a virtual event during which tax authorities worldwide shared good ISM practices and experiences on key ISM-related topics. It was attended by over 430 tax officials from 106 jurisdictions, with 38% female participants.
Held in October – the global cyber-security month – the ISM Days is the flagship annual event of the Global Forum’s ISM Network, which brings together expert officials from 81 member jurisdictions to share ISM knowledge, experiences and good practices. The Network also holds quarterly “Live Hour” events to support members in continuously improving their ISM practices.
The 2024 ISM Days covered the secure use of cloud services, privileged access management, IT-asset management and the prevention of data exfiltration. During the two days, 12 experts from 11 jurisdictions (Argentina, Bahrain, Chile, Croatia, Indonesia, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, Norway, South Africa, and Uganda) discussed in depth these important topics and shared their valuable experiences with the large audience through interactive sessions and instant surveys. Participants also shared their daily experiences and good practices in tackling evolving threats and risks.
The Global Forum, as the international body responsible for the worldwide implementation of the standards on tax transparency and exchange of information, places ISM at the core of its work. The Global Forum Secretariat, through its comprehensive capacity-building programme, is focused on providing continuous support to members in the implementation of ISM good practices, which are critical to ensure the confidentiality and safeguarding of taxpayer information in cross-border tax information exchanges.
During the event, the Secretariat launched its new Guidance on Secure Use of Cloud Services, which is available on demand to officials of ministries of finance and tax authorities. This new Guidance adds to the pool of resources available to member jurisdictions (toolkits, templates, guidance documents and e-learning courses) and aims to support them in addressing ISM challenges relevant to their digital transformations and operations in the digital age.
The Global Forum capacity-building programme is supported by the following development partners: