Joanna Goddard, our Growth specialist Partner at BRIM, was delighted to be a guest of Which? And SASIG ( Security and Special interest Group) at WHICH? Offices recently, to host a panel on transparency in the security industry. Having to take the floor following Director of NCSC’s Chris Ensor, who addressed the audience on the urgency that is required to engage SMEs in online crime prevention, Joanna then chaired an esteemed response panel leading discussions with the audience, though the convergence of cyber and fraud; what this means to the average small businessperson, and how it affects their engagement in resilience.
A lively debate about terms of refence to ‘online crime’ ensued, followed by gasps of shock from the audience as Joanna invited client Vikki Bruce of CaskNet to share her findings about online fraud in the whisky cask industry as an illustration.
Vikki operates several businesses focused on luxury and whisky heritage related travel and experiences. Bringing the story of fraud and online crime alive, it was a superb session.
“estimates suggest that the size of the market is in the region of 1 million privately owned casks, a market which would be valued at over £30 billion GBP. Many of these transactions are occurring overseas so the ability to track and analyse is challenging, and one which we aim to overcome.”
Fellow panel member, also a client of BRI, Detective Chief Inspector Fiona Bail, agreed that this astonishing example demonstrates that while online crime escalates in risk, the opportunities criminals exploit know no bounds.
Governance and regulation are not keeping up. Law Enforcement is, as a result, heavily focused on crime prevention and strategic engagement to help inform the nature of crime in todays converged online world.
As Vikki explored key themes form her whitepaper on the topic, she raised the call to arms for a public sector partner to join her in the development of her protype platform to enable trackable digital asset to trace the authenticity and legitimacy of whisky casks. Some sold for multi, multi million pounds on the internet, with owners not being aware, if they or their broker own the cask, where the cask is, or if it is insured and by whom. Startling revelations.
Comparable to the marketing of cyber, with no clear boundaries on ‘silver bullets’ where companies make promises about providing security products and services. A topic close to our hearts at BRIM with Joanna’s own white paper on the topic now in wide circulation across public and private sectors.
Could this be another aspect for the Cyber Security Council?
Should it be?
Will your organisation play a part in either the marketing or cyber or the online fraud in whisky cask trading?
BRIM would love to explore this with you. Please contact Joanna to help address this.
You can download a copy of both whitepapers here.