Cugavadi quoted in The Treasurer
12/01/2015
Cugavadi’s Chris van Dijl was recently quoted in The Treasurer, the official publication of the Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT).
The article entitled ‘This is not a drill” focussed on cybercrimes and the need for cyber security to be part of a Treasurer’s thinking.
“Theft of cash via hacked bank accounts is giving way to a bigger, longer game. Chris van Dijl has worked as a corporate treasurer and now runs consultant company Cugavadi, which helps businesses improve their security measures. He has seen the shift from theft to extortion attempts.
“We’ve seen examples of where you had cybercriminals saying to their victims: ‘We’ve broken your security. We’ve got something of value to you’,” he explains. “And ‘We’ll put a service attack on so you can’t operate as a business on the website that’s really important to you’. Once they’ve done that, they will start to try and have a discussion with you that involves ransom and extortion.” This happened in the Ashley Madison case, where no funds were stolen, simply user data, which was then used as a weapon for extorting cash from the site’s owners.
Van Dijl spends a lot of his time working with clients on assessing the threats they face and designing frameworks to combat them. This usually focuses on good housekeeping rules: “We try to look at things like the use of authorised counterparties, for instance, so that each counterparty will have to comply with set parameters as per a counterparty risk policy document,” he says.“
The use of a different counterparty could actually be a breach of a covenant in loan documentation.” Beyond that, Van Dijl’s best practice wish list for clients to protect treasury from cybercriminals includes: implementing approved strategies for managing payments; error prevention through constant updating and improvement; robust treasury audit; and the segregation of duties – under which dealing, recording, confirmation and settlement are all split to prevent internal fraud and potential compromise from
For a full copy of the article please contact either the ACT or Cugavadi.For more information, please contact Cugavadi on info@cugavadi.com.
About Cugavadi
Cugavadi is a specialised niche firm with offices in Dubai and Charlotte, NC focussing on corporate treasury advisory and training. Cugavadi was founded by industry experts with each over 20 years of background in corporate treasury, risk, finance and consultancy gained from international and local markets.
About The Association of Corporate Treasurers
The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) is the only professional treasury body with a Royal Charter. We set the global benchmark for treasury excellence and lead the profession through our internationally recognised qualifications, by defining standards and by championing continuing professional development. We are the authentic voice of the treasury profession representing the interests of the real economy and educating, supporting and leading the treasurers of today and tomorrow. For more information please visit the ACT website.