FBI investigates attacks on financial institutions
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into reported cyber attacks on major financial institutions. JP Morgan and at least four other banks were targeted this month according to reports. It is believed that data was stolen including information about customers’ accounts. The FBI and forensic security companies are said to have been brought in to conduct a thorough investigation. Read the full story.
Airline industry discusses risk from conflict zones
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has concluded its second two-day meeting in as many weeks of the Task Force on Risks to Civil Aviation arising from Conflict Zones establishing a well-defined overall work programme and two immediate projects. The first pilot project agreed by the States, regional organizations and wide-ranging industry groups will explore how the Notice to Airmen system already in place between States and operators could be better used to share urgent and critical conflict zone risk information. The second project will be piloted by key ICAO partners on a new centralized system to be established for the prompt sharing of conflict zone risk information. The task force was convened on an emergency basis in the aftermath of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. Its main goal is to refine the roles and procedures relating to the mitigation of conflict zone risks in civilian airspace.
UN risk management campaign signs up 2,000 cities
A United Nations campaign to encourage risk management to be at the heart of cities worldwide has reached 2,000 sign-ups. The Making Cities Resilient: My City is getting Ready campaign is an initiative promoted by the UN’s Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. It was launched in 2010 for a period of five years until 2015, and its overall goal is to get as many local governments to take on the challenge of integrating disaster risk management in their development processes, thereby increasing resilience. About 500 of those that have signed-up are in the Americas and there is likely to be further work over a longer time frame to further improve risk management within local government development plans.
No room for app-athy in mobile business tools
The days of mobile ‘apps’ being solely the domain of game players and those looking for a new messaging service are long gone; these days businesses of all sizes and from all sectors are launching apps, adding new risk. Software expert Charley Rich says that risk assessment of applications needs to be part of a more general awareness of the risks posed by online based systems. He says that moving away from risk assessment silos and implementing unified performance analysis, which means that when one symptom shows up something unusual, it leads to a full assessment of what could be going wrong. He says that IT teams are facing increased risks and will have to be skilled in identifying the genuine risks from the false alarms. Read the full story.
