NEWS
Information Technologists’ Company
contract) to coerce co-operation from those
whose services they use, remains, by
comparison, trivial. The costs incurred by
those who have to reimburse the victims of
on-line banking scams (UK law is different to
that of the US), are, however, rising sharply.
But those costs are very much less than those
that are incurred when customers lose
confidence in dealing with you on-line.
The banking crisis and related scandals (from
Mortgage Fraud to Libor) can be seen as a
failure of information governance. The
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systemic weaknesses which enable criminals
to organise computer assisted fraud often arise
from similar failures of technology
governance. Both sets of failure cross
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professional, cultural and regulatory
boundaries while sharing common
“the value of lost transactions, because
consumers gave up on fighting their way
through the security questions, was double
that of known losses to theft and fraud”
A recent survey by the British Retail
Consortium indicated that the value of lost
transactions, because consumers gave up on
fighting their way through the security
questions, was double that of known losses to
theft and fraud. At a recent conference a main
Board Director from a major bank lamented
the failure of security experts to work with
colleagues in marketing to give him joined up
business cases. He gave the example of
security wanting to monitor all transactions to
spot changes in customer behaviour which
might indicate fraud. Marketing wanted to
monitor them for changes which might
indicate that customers were about to defect.
Why could they not talk to each other?
characteristics.
after the security of the organisation?
How do you select, train, motivate and
update them, while ensuring their loyalty
and discretion?
How do you make it easier to use
trustworthy products, services and
suppliers?
Most attempts, to date, by “experts” to look at
such questions fail. The commonly simplify
issues down to those with which they are
comfortable and where they believe they can
produce results and then dive down into the
detail. Most appear to assume that some-one
else (“The Board”) is looking at the whole
picture and will put their contribution into
perspective.
Hence the reason that the Security Panel is
working with the Ethical and Spiritual Panel,
the City Values Forum, the Digital Policy
Alliance and others to enlist the assistance of
the thought leaders of the future, alias the
brightest and best of the graduate students of
today.
So how do we bring about the changes in
attitude and behaviour necessary to ensure that
business operations can be globally trusted?
The first step is a pilot competition for
Masters students at sixteen universities,
co-ordinated by new WCIT Freeman Kevin
? What are the standards against which
Jones at City University. This is being run
conduct should be measured?
under the umbrella of the Cyber Security
? How should that conduct be judged and by Challenge, to reduce costs and risk and enable
co-operation with those looking at wider areas
whom? Is technical innovation required?
of on-line risk.
? What part, if any, does regulation have a
part to play?
? How do you decide who you trust to look
Competition for Ideas to Improve On-line Trust and
Confidence
T
his is a three year exercise in response to a request from the City Values Forum to apply “my word is my bond” to
the on-line world. The pilot exercise is a Gold Stream within the Cyber Security challenge, assisted by the BCS,
CPHC, DPA, IET and others. Masters students at sixteen universities, co-ordinated by Kevin Jones at City
University, have been asked to address the people (ethics, motivation and skills), process (including governance) and
technology (including security and resilience) issues that underpin trust online.
The measures of success relate to.
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Ideas that help position London and the UK at the heart of a trusted on-line world.
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Enhanced co-operation between universities and employers
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Securing the support necessary to get a band-wagon rolling for years two and three.
E-mail [email protected] , [email protected] or [email protected] to join the
supporters and Sponsors.
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