Cybercrime

A boundless threat

The current reality is that like every other aspect of commerce, economic crime has, to some extent, gone digital. In a hyper-connected business ecosystem that frequently straddles jurisdictions, a breach in any node of that system – including third parties such as service providers, business partners or government authorities – can compromise the organisation’s digital landscape in a variety of ways. What’s more, cyber risk now encompasses more than our traditional view of computers: we’ve observed a sharp increase in attack activity involving the Internet of Things.

Cybercrime: hot topic in chemicals

For the chemicals industry cybercrime could be a bigger issue than procurement fraud or bribery and corruption. It’s a threat that’s increasing for many companies. Fighting cybercrime is a strategic issue that needs to go well beyond the IT function. After all, organizations are not being attacked by computers, but by people attempting to exploit human frailty as much as technical vulnerability. As such this is a problem which requires a response that is grounded in strategy and judgment about business process, access, authority, delegation, supervision and awareness—not merely tools and technologies. In our view, chemical executives should take another look at what a fraud risk management system may add to their anti-crime toolkit.

Firm-wide responsibility

From our international work on digital strategy and execution with thousands of companies globally, we’ve identified practices that distinguish leaders in the digital age. Chief among these is a proactive stance when it comes to cybersecurity and privacy. This necessitates that everyone in the organisation – from the board and C-suite to middle management and hourly workers – sees it as their responsibility.

Think about the following:

Are you educating your entire staff about cybercrime risks?
Do your plans for global expansion include considered assessment of corruption risk and appropriate actions to cope?
How strong is your internal anti-fraud culture?
Are your IP protections adequate?
How often does your company conduct fraud risk assessments?