New Cyber Risks in Financial Institutions Can Be Solved by Communication

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New Cyber Risks in Financial Institutions Can Be Solved by Communication

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many industries ground to a halt. In response, governments around the world approved unprecedented amounts of money to be sent to individual citizens and businesses to prop them up until they were able to reopen and go back to work. As funds were being transferred at break-neck speed, financial institutions were asked to help distribute and manage this money. At the same time, opportunistic fraudsters and cybercriminals pounced on the chaos.

In the panel session, “Emerging Fraud Risks and Trends in Financial Institutions,” at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, anti-fraud leaders in some of the top banks around the world weighed in on how the pandemic affected the fraud that financial institutions saw and the best tactics to fight some of those risks.

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Seen on the Screen: Forging Ahead in the Fight Against Fraud

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Seen on the Screen: Forging Ahead in the Fight Against Fraud

“So far, the session that has left the greatest impression on me is ‘Seeing What You Want to See: How Confirmation Bias Affects Fraud Examinations.’ It was helpful to examine my own bias, how it could hinder a fraud investigation and what I can personally do to make sure I remain objective to the facts of the case. I will definitely use this information immediately.” — Ugunda Toussant, CFE, Senior Investigator at Kinecta Federal Credit Union

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Cybercrime in the Age of COVID-19

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Cybercrime in the Age of COVID-19

“COVID was a golden era for people wanting to commit cyber fraud [and] cyber threats,” Robert Herjavec told attendees at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference. As he addressed the virtual audience while sitting in his Toronto home, he looked back on a year that saw the coronavirus upend people’s lives and open opportunities for fraudsters like never before.

Herjavec may be best known as one of the judges on “Shark Tank,” the Emmy award-winning TV show about aspiring entrepreneurs that is now heading into its 13th season. But he also has a day job as Founder and CEO of Herjavec Group — one of the world’s most innovative cybersecurity firms that he founded in 2003.

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Keynote Speaker Video: Robert Herjavec

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Keynote Speaker Video: Robert Herjavec

In his Tuesday afternoon keynote address at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference, Robert Herjavec, CEO of the cybersecurity firm Herjavec Group, explained to author and TV/radio host Amber Mac how the COVID-19 pandemic opened new doors for cyber criminals. "It's not that the attacks are bigger, or more complicated, it's that the attack surface is larger,” he said. "In the past, companies kept their data in a castle, which was their location, and they would protect it, and it was relatively easy to know where your people and your data was … it’s become easier to penetrate a corporate network.”

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Deep Fakes and Social Engineering: Emerging Threats

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Deep Fakes and Social Engineering: Emerging Threats

Humans communicate. It’s what we do. It’s what we’ve always done. At its most basic level, communication is simply the exchange and transference of information. Since the very beginning, humans have also been trying to hide, obfuscate and muddle information to keep it from getting to the wrong audience.

During his session titled “The Future of Cybercrime: AI, Deepfakes and Beyond,” Dominique Brack, CFE, CISSP, CISA, provided attendees of the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference with a brief but thorough history of information security.

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Delving Into the Psychology of Billionaire Fraudsters

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Delving Into the Psychology of Billionaire Fraudsters

Preet Bharara laughed when asked about how he feels about “Billions,” the TV show that is loosely based on his investigation of the hedge fund SAC Capital when he was the U.S. attorney for the Southern District Court of New York.

“It is fun for there to be a television show that is popular, even though it takes a lot of liberties, that is about the U.S. attorney as opposed to the district attorney … so that was nice,” he told ACFE vice president and general counsel John Warren, J.D., CFE, at the 32nd Annual ACFE Global Fraud Conference.

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Lessons in Whistleblowing: How the ACORN 8 Triumphed in the Face of Adversity

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Lessons in Whistleblowing: How the ACORN 8 Triumphed in the Face of Adversity

The very public decline and fall of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) involved bitter partisan battles, allegations of voter fraud and a secret video recording. But it is also a story of heroes — namely a group of eight people — who at great personal sacrifice exposed embezzlement at the community-based advocacy group.

It is that clutch of brave souls — better known as the ACORN 8 — that wins this year’s Sentinel Award, which the ACFE bestows annually on a person or group of people who, without regard to personal or professional consequences, publicly discloses wrongdoing in business or government.

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