|
 |
Safeguarding Your Assets Brought to you by FMN Online November 2001 (SmartPros) According to most observers, the September 11 attacks represent an effort to set into motion a series of broadly destabilizing events, at home and abroad. But's it's not just physical attacks that are causing concern. Alan Brill, senior managing director and technologist at Kroll, sat down with SmartPros' FMN Online to address the increased threat of cyber-assaults and outlined steps chief financial officers must take to protect corporate assets in the event of an emergency. "If I were a financial executive today, I would take this as being the time to rethink how I protected my information. Information is in many cases the key asset of the organization," began Brill in part one of the multimedia program, "Accounting for the Attack on America: Safeguarding Your Assets."
"Whether that organization is financial, operational, planning -- everything goes through that computer. Without the computers and the networks, we wouldn't be able to run global businesses on the scale that we operate with the efficiency that we operate," he continued.
Taking an all-encompassing view of the threats made upon a corporation's assets -- from terrorist attacks to earthquakes -- Brill outlined in his interview a handful of steps CFOs can take for information security, including good infrastructure conditions, an updated network diagram and firewalls.
"The problem is you may have never budgeted for putting all these fixes in. I'm afraid to say to some extent that doesn't matter. That part of the price of playing the game, of having the networks, of using the technology, is that you've got to keep them secure," he said.
In fact, Brill noted that there are aspects of security executives may not consider, such as the potential threat they pose simply by working from home.
"What percentage of those executives who are working on highly sensitive material have a firewall? If you don't have a firewall, pretty much anyone who wants to come in through that connection can drop in on your computer."
Brill added that the cost of putting in a firewall -- "anywhere from zero to 30 bucks" -- is worth the investment.
Though CFOs have a number of historical and technical things to do, said Brill, they also have the responsibility to not assume that someone else is in charge. "If you as a CFO assume that information security is the responsibility of the "techies," you've made a dangerous assumption. Unless you know that this is getting done, that those updates are made, that the firewall is being tune, that the patches are installed, that the day-to-day simple realistic things that you need to maintain security are done, how do you know they're done?"
Note: The recent tragedy has instilled a tremendous sense of cooperation, and a desire by companies to assist with the task of "getting back to business". SmartPros is making the two current "Attack on America" segments, normally only available to subscribers, available to anyone who wishes to view them. Safeguarding Your Assets (segment 1) and Accounting for Recent Losses (segment 2) can be viewed in their entirety at http://www.fmnonline.com/cpe/demo_index.cfm
* * *
Don't miss this special program, "Safeguarding Your Assets," for specific examples and helpful tips on securing company assets, where Brill details:
|
|
|
|||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||
