Original 2021 statement: Most major companies will be at risk of failure through computer security hacking issues - until security becomes a Board of Directors responsibility
What Jim has written about this
From “Trend: Security, Scams, and Avoidable Negligence!” (December 2017)
Yet going forward, we will continue to see many more Equifax situations that will result in the destruction of billions of dollars of corporate value. Some CEO’s will be held accountable; others won’t. Yet the sad fact is that entire companies will disappear to avoidable negligence with respect to security and infrastructure issues. The trend will become accelerated as technology driven disruption comes to drive forward every industry. We might one day see a car company go bankrupt — not because of fraudulent diesel mileage manipulation, but because someone hacked into the internal IT engine of millions of cars through a known backdoor.
It’s not like we haven’t known about the risks. Back in the 80’s and 90’s, I regularly read Peter G. Neuman’s Risk Digest , and even contributed a few emerging risks to the regular newsletter. Looking back, most of was predicted back then has come to pass, including the hacking and hijacking of election systems and technologies. It’s only going to get worse; I covered these challenges when I did 2 talks for the chief legal officers for a vast number of Fortune 500 companies last month, as covered in my post, Understanding, Managing and Minimizing Accelerated Risk.
Why does IT risk continue to be an issue? Because the fact remains : companies simply do not pay attention to what must be done to protect themselves against KNOWN RISK, because it is not at the level of the Board. Most major companies do not have IT or security as a Board level skills matrix responsibility; they are still focused on legal, finance, executive compensation and the other same old stuff they’ve always been focused on as Boards. Yet I’ve long said that IT and risk management needs to be something dealt with at the Board - until then, things will not change!
From “Trend: Security & Privacy Failures Will Be the Primary Force for Destruction of Corporate Value Into the 2020’s” (December 2019)
For over 20 years, I’ve been preaching that as long as corporate boards do not have specific responsibility for computer security and privacy in their skills matrix, the company will be at risk.
That trend will only accelerate into the next decade. I expect we will actually see a few Fortune 1000 companies disappear because of a massive security or privacy breach.
Companies don’t pay proper attention to the issue. Most Boards of Directors have individuals who are experts at a narrow range of issues - executive compensation, legal, audit, finance.
From “Keynote: Gemalto, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - Avoidable Negligence and the Future of IT Security” (February 2018)
Security, security, security! Gemalto is one of the global leaders in providing complex solutions to the complex problems of a hyper-connected world, for a global client base of Fortune 1000 organizations, government and others. They found me, and figured I would be the best guy to put a spin onto that with a good hard look at the future of computer and security risk.
My keynote took a look at the future of security and computer risk – in the context of the disruptive trends of our times. This included a look at the core issues leading to a faster world and massive business model disruption and change – everything from the acceleration of science, to what happens when every company becomes a software company; the impact of an increase in the number of business partnerships due to skills fragmentation, and the issues that come from the acceleration of knowledge; not to forget the hyper-connectivity that comes from the Internet of Things and the new business models that emerges a result. From this, the new risk that emerges as a result!
Read the full pieces on jimcarroll.com:
Trend: Security, Scams, and Avoidable Negligence!
Trend: Security & Privacy Failures Will Be the Primary Force for Destruction of Corporate Value Into the 2020’s
Keynote: Gemalto, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida - Avoidable Negligence and the Future of IT Security