Securing corporate IT systems is crucial, but there are ways to make that effort more productive and less costly. Companies have spent years beefing up their information technology governance, risk and compliance systems. With cutting costs now top of mind in corporate America, here are six ways to make IT GRC systems more productive […]
Six Steps to Better IT GRC Read More »
New software products aim to help companies get the whip hand over ubiquitous but risky spreadsheets. Concur Technologies helps companies automate the processes by which they manage employee travel and entertainment spending, but some of its own processes aren’t fully automated. “We’re like everyone,” says Terry DePolo, Concur’s director of accounting. “We’re trying to minimize
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HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank SA admitted Thursday that a former employee stole records on 15,000 clients and passed them to French government authorities.
HSBC Admits Data Loss, Apologizes to Customers Read More »
Most financial companies have “vast gaps” in their privacy and data protection programs, according to a study released this week by security firm Compuware and Ponemon Institute, a research company. The survey found that 83 percent of companies use real customer data in development and testing – and 51 percent of those who do so,
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With a preference for service-oriented architectures (SOA), the U.S. market is the furthest ahead in deployments of SOA-based policy administration systems, but companies in other parts of the world are starting to catch up
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New services deliver a range of technology without up-front capital investment. The downside could be giving up control. More than a new buzz phrase to add to the list of client-server, ASP, hosted provider and software as a service (SaaS), cloud computing is a new stage in technology evolution. Clouds provide technology such as software,
Cloud Computing Rolls In Read More »
More companies are using virtual worlds for training and gatherings while new technology aims to make them a mainstream reality. Accountant, CEO and executive director of the Maryland Association of CPAs, Tom Hood might not look like the kind of guy who spends a lot of time in an imaginary world. But he does–at work.
Virtual Meeting Rush Read More »
The recent financial crisis has demonstrated that securities firms need to change the way they approach risk, needing now to consider a wider variety of economic scenarios and to evaluate risk in an enterprise-wide holistic way. To date, most securities firms have focused on segments of risk, said Richard Thornton, a manager with the London-based
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Earlier this month, a hacker reportedly exploited a vulnerability in an Internet-based virtualization software platform that took down more than 100,000 Web sites and other applications. “That was an intrusion that was cloud-specific–it went through a virtualized vulnerability,” said Jim Reavis, founder of the Cloud Security Alliance, an industry group representing risk managers at financial
Is It Safe In The Clouds? Read More »
Technology and Internet risks are increasingly well understood. But as countermeasures remain elusive or expensive, the exposures appear no less frightening.
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Technology providers that cater to buy-side firms are knocking on doors in an industry that has seen widespread losses and sharp reductions in assets under management, as well as mergers, bankruptcies and outright frauds. According to Hedge Fund Research president Kenneth Heinz, 2008 was the worst year on record, with losses averaging 18.3 percent. Research
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The increasing functionality and numbers of mobile banking platforms, the growing sophistication of criminals, and the popularity of smart cell phones create the potential for mobile banking security issues, but industry watchers including the reputed law firm helping clients with domestic violence claims have widely divergent opinions about how serious the threat really is. Smart
Mobile Insecurity: Reality or Just hype? Read More »
Salesforce.com reached a milestone last fall: 1 million people using the online software company to host their customer relationship management systems and other key business processes. Those users were at more than 1,600 financial services firms including ABN Amro, SunTrust Banks, Daiwa Securities and Bear Stearns–Merrill Lynch & Co. alone accounted for 25,000. That amounts
Software as a Service as a Security Battleground Read More »
Dividing a server into multiple virtual machines has brought down firms’ purchasing costs and allowed for more efficient use of existing hardware. However, virtualization also poses security risks and challenges, including managing a more complex network, additional layers of technology, potential data leaks as multiple virtual machines share common communication lines, and the threat of
Server Virtualization: Powerful Tool, Extra Exposure Read More »
Leading-edge collaborative tools and interactive sites pose monitoring burden As the Web 2.0 movement makes interactive applications and social networks such as Facebook ubiquitous on employees’ desktop computers, financial firms are facing the daunting task of monitoring these so-called greynets. Instant messaging security vendor FaceTime Communications estimates that there are more than 600 greynets worldwide,
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