Hackers stealing confidential mergers and acquisitions data
A cyber security company is warning that criminals have been accessing confidential data on mergers and acquisitions for over a year by tricking professionals. FireEye said in its report that the pharmaceutical industry has been the main focus for a group called Fin4 which has gained access to information likely to have been used for insider trading. The report, which has been shared with law enforcement agencies, claims that a genuine document from the US Securities and Exchange Commission was obtained by the group and used in a phishing email sent to law firms and other professionals. The use of the genuine document led to professionals compromising their email account passwords. Fin4 were then able to log in to those accounts to monitor developments in transactions. Read the full story.
Large businesses neglect risk from whistleblowing
Whistleblowing should be higher in risk agendas according to a global survey from law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. The poll of more than 2,500 middle and senior managers found that more than one in ten employees have blown the whistle, while almost half of employees would consider doing so. However, less than one in ten say whistleblowing is currently an important issue for their organisation and less than half say their companies either don’t have a whistleblowing policy or fail to publicise it if there is one. Although more than half of respondents said they would primarily encourage employees to go to their direct boss if they saw wrongdoing within their company, one in four employees said they would go directly to a regulator, external organisation or the media.
Climate change risk misses a key point says Royal Society
Climate change risk can be underestimated due to a failure in the metrics used to assess it. A new study by the well-respected UK science organization The Royal Society says that global average climate change metrics fail to highlight that the most extreme effects of climate change occur where people live. The report ‘Resilience to Extreme Weather’ notes that the re/insurance industry has made “considerable progress” in evaluating the risks posed by extreme weather but the wider financial risk should be better reported. It says that more needs to be done to protect people and their assets from extreme weather and there must be better sharing of, and access to, information. Read the full story.
