Weekly Blog 2 - Fraud risk assessment

The growth of technology has allowed organisations to conduct business in more proficient ways. As a result, the complex system of electronic; data, assets and information are becoming an increasingly important resource to protect. COBIT 5, a framework for IT management and governance guides an organisation in developing policies and procedures enterprise wide to minimise IT fraud.

Assessing fraud and other IT threats should be done in conjunction with an end to end view in mind. A holistic approach reassures that the different components in an organisations system are taken into account in developing a unified governance and compliance framework for the identification, assessment and mitigation of risks (Bureau Van Dijk, 2013). Even if the crucial parts of a system are protected, if a smaller component ends up failing, it could up end causing the entire system to crash.

An article I read where a small business was hit by ransomware, not having the right training and protection put in place, an employee roaming the internet infected one system of the business and spread to the accounting software. This makes me wonder if my personal computer has been hit with malware from looking on the internet and whether my firewall and security system are adequate in detecting and protection against cybercrime.

I recommend that organisations should adopt these measures to minimise fraud risk.

1) Training and awareness - for employees to know the basic forms of cybercrime

2) Security systems put in place to prevent and protect confidential business electronic data and information

3) Backup data - In case of an attack

4) Personal background checks - to prevent internal fraud from happening

5) Developing a holistic principles, policies and framework - attitude of tone from the top is very strict against this type of behaviour

Relevant Links

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2901672/how-to-prevent-ransomware-what-one-company-learned-the-hard-way.html

References

Bureau Van Dijk (2013). Key steps to a holistic risk management strategy identified. Retrieved 6,  April 2015 from
http://www.bvdinfo.com/industrynews/procurement-and-risk-management/key-steps-to-a-holistic-risk-management-strategy-identified/801626578