Risk, Security, Safety and Resilience Newsletter - Week of 14 Mar 23
Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP FSyI SRMCP
Group Manager Risk (incl. Resilience, Insurance & Internal Audit) | PhD Candidate, Researcher and Scholar
Of the 232 articles, quotes, resources, research and visuals viewed nearly 137,000 times, here are 10 of the top-rated ones.
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The following is a summary of security, risk, safety and resilience articles, topics and issues ending the week of 14 Mar 23.
Key themes for this week include:
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Should '#risk' knowledge and expertise be evaluated on the basis of confidence and competence, much can be learned by superimposing a Dunning-Kruger framework to people, beliefs and practices. Those seemingly most confident tend to use templates, regulations, matrices, formulas and other heuristics or superficial representations of the real world, typically derived from little to no objective, verifiable qualifications. This occurs across numerous professions where pockets of risk or specialisation occur.
Confidence is most notably in decline with those that study, research, practice and consume a broad range or risk-informed or related sciences. In short, they acknowledge and understand complexity, systems, uncertainty and the reality that 'you can't measure everything', nor can what counts be measured or assigned convenient numbers to support complex human choices, communities and decision-making.
Reservations remain persistent at the higher end of competence. That is, nothing is ever 'done', 'neat', 'simple' or 'assessed'; hence risk-informed over that of 'risk-based' tends to dominate this end of the spectrum. In other words, many things inform individual and group views of 'risk', so evaluations change and vary, and the never constrained nor represented in a 'risk-rating', matrix or similar snapshot in time.
"The Dunning-Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which people wrongly overestimate their knowledge or ability in a specific area. This tends to occur because a lack of self-awareness prevents them from accurately assessing their own skills. "
"This tendency may occur because gaining a small amount of knowledge in an area about which one was previously ignorant can make people feel as though they’re suddenly virtual experts. Only after continuing to explore a topic do they realize how extensive it is and how much they still have to master. "
Mention 'risk', and you immediately find 'tribal' behaviour, practices and cohorts. None more so than 'quants' and 'quals', or quantitative and qualitative risk analysis and ideology. Few dare acknowledge or declare mixed methods because, like religion and politics, they 'choose for life'. Some try to bully others, expressing mathematical superiority or purity, like self-authored deities. But like most things, scratch below the surface, and you find some revealing and even concerning misconceptions and dangerous positions, routinely ignoring or concealing harm, fear, danger, peril and threats within 'risk' narratives and the preferred tool of the day or group(s). For example:
"theory-induced blindness: once you have accepted a theory and used it as a tool in your thinking, it is extraordinarily difficult to notice its flaws. "
Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Macmillan, p.304
Mathematical and statistical 'purity' results in a 'one trick pony', or 'law of the instrument', whereby "when you're good with a hammer, the whole world is a nail". As a result, you tend to pound every issue and topic in risk as a maths problem needing an adroit (albeit routinely flawed or false) mathematical calculation or formula, including graphs and matrices.
" rigorous training is needed for any profession whether it is surgical work or qualitative research in order to conduct the work in a careful, appropriate and scientific manner. " -
Hennink, M., Hutter, I. & Bailey, A. (2020) Qualitative Research Methods, SAGE Publishing.p.9
Which is further evidence as to why accountants and auditors (including management generalists) are inadequately qualified and trained for cultural evaluations and behaviour analysis in people.
Yet both remain realities, divisions and tensions across risk management in all its forms and contexts. Especially when you move from one 'tribe' to another, should you survive the hazing.
Food for thought.
It remains a dangerously narrow, if not foolish notion, to consider cybercrime as constrained to pure cyber and 'space' domains, without any physical security involvement or relationships.
That is, all cybersecurity issues have elements (often very significant elements) of physical and conventional security concern.
This includes events leading up to and resulting in criminal acts.
While compared with similar, historical crimes such as identify theft, fraud, extortion and burglary, on the surface, it may seem it is all now the same thing, just through a computer or network connection.
As with all things of the day, there is an element of truth to this but it is not the entire truth.
HOW ARE 'RISK MANAGEMENT' AND 'RISK SCIENCES' DIFFERENT OR SIMILAR? Risk management and risk sciences are related fields, but they differ in their focus and approach. Risk management is a practical process that involves identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks in order to achieve specific objectives. The focus of risk management is on the practical application of risk assessment and mitigation strategies in various industries and contexts. Risk management is often applied within organizations to identify and manage risks associated with business operations, financial investments, and project management, among other areas.
Risk sciences, on the other hand, is an academic field that involves the study of risks and risk management from a scientific perspective. The focus of risk sciences is on developing and applying scientific methods and models to analyze risks and evaluate the effectiveness of risk management strategies. Risk sciences draws on a wide range of disciplines, including mathematics, statistics, epidemiology, engineering, and environmental science, among others.
"This handbook is primarily written for systems engineers, #risk managers, and risk analysts, but program managers of NASA programs and projects can get a sense of the value added by the process by reading the “RIDM Overview” section. It is designed to provide a concise description of RIDM and highlight key areas of the process. It can also be easily applied by unit engineers for application to units under their purview, although the application at such a low level should be based on the complexity of the engineering issue being addressed.
The RIDM methodology introduced by this handbook is part of a systems engineering process which emphasizes the proper use of #riskanalysis in its broadest sense to make risk-informed decisions that impact all mission execution domains, including safety, technical, cost, and schedule. In future versions of this handbook, the risk management principles discussed here will be updated in an evolutionary manner and expanded to address operations procedures procurement, strategic planning, and institutional risk management as experience is gained in the field. Technical appendices will be developed and added to provide tools and templates for implementation of the RIDM process. Examples will continue to be developed and will be disseminated as completed. "
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In sum, #resilience is not a self-declaration of achievement or a celebratory milestone. Most resilience assurances quickly unravel when examined in detail… or in the event of a real-world stressor.
Ironically, widespread, unsubstantiated assurances of 'resilience' are manufacturing and concealing risk within systems, networks, organisations and business units.
#Resilience remains a relationship endeavour. That is, you can't will yourself or your organisation into or maintain a state of resourcefulness or resilience without collaboration, support, systems or networks. These socio-technical relationships provide information, resourcing, shelter, exposure, vulnerability and revenue at differing scales and frequencies. The same applies within any given organisation or entity.
"The enterprise is an important concept in managing operational resilience. At the enterprise level, the organization establishes and carries out many activities that set the tone for operational resilience, such as governance, risk management, and financial responsibility. "
- Carallie, R., Allen, J. & White, D. (2011 ) CERT Resilience Management Model: A maturity model for managing operational resilience, Addison-Wesley, p.54
Therefore, business & service continuity, risk management, cyber resilience, and security risk management are all co-creators and dependent variables associated with operational resilience. As a result, systems and network mapping are required at all times. What does yours look like? Do you have one?
Operational resilience, enterprise risk management (ER) and most assuredly, enterprise security risk management (ESRM) will remain forever elusive if detailed consideration is not apportioned to mapping and analysing one's environment and operational context or ecosystem. Ironically, it remains a mystery and concern as to why so few take the time, invest resources or maintain this 'situational awareness', routinely expressing 'shock' or 'unforeseen' and 'perfect storm' type excuses when disruption, delay, crisis or disaster presents. "Black Swans" remain abundant if you only keep your eyes and ears open or look beyond your own paradigms, constraints, bias or foreseeable limitations.
I'm overjoyed to be informed today that my content has been viewed 4,000 times by the global academic, research, professionals and student network utilising the platform. One of the many channels and experiments I set up was via ResearchGate, where I share professional, academic and expert content https://lnkd.in/gXBNVCxc
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Are 'safety' and/or 'security' interchangeable, overlapping, similar or distinctly different? In reality, both are subject to linguistic uncertainty, variance and confusion, often within the same sentence or discussion. What is 'safe' may be 'secure', but what is secure may not be safe. Confused? Indeed. This linguistic drift begins within the national security and public safety narratives and varies across cultures, contexts and industries. Most importantly, they don't exist without its compansion pair. That is, they need each other. Because the absence of safety or security as a conjoined consideration routinely contributes to 'unsafe' and 'insecure', also categories as 'non-safe' and 'non-secure'. Each is a transient, fleeting and dynamic state, not guaranteed into perpetuity. Exhausting, right? 😀
Overall, the duty of care requires employers to take a proactive approach to managing the risks associated with business travel and to ensure that employees are aware of the potential risks and have the resources and support they need to stay safe and healthy while traveling.
Includes:
1) Legal Obligations
2) Risk 3) Foreseeable Risk.
4) Policy 5) Procedure
6) Assessments
Recommended by LinkedIn
7) Competent Person
8) Job Description
9 ) Threats
10) Risk Assessment
11) Travel Security Risk Assessments x 2.
12) Evidence, and
13) Probability of Harm
Citation:
Ridley, T. & ChatGPT (2023) Duty of Care: Business Travel & Security Risk Management, Presentation, 10.13140/RG.2.2.18197.60644
What is "travel security"? Travel security refers to the measures taken to ensure the safety and well-being of travelers while they are away from home. It encompasses a broad range of issues, including physical safety, health risks, and protection of personal belongings.
What is "travel safety"?
Travel safety is the concept of ensuring that a traveler is protected from harm, danger, or injury while traveling. It involves taking precautions to reduce the risk of accidents, illness, crime, and other hazards associated with travel.
What is "travel risk management"?
Travel risk management (TRM) refers to the process of identifying, assessing, and mitigating the risks associated with business travel. It involves developing policies, procedures, and protocols to minimize the risks of harm or loss to employees, assets, and the organization itself.
Is "travel risk management" the same as "travel safety" and "travel security"? If not, how is it different?
"#Corporatesecurity is about much more than protecting an organization from unauthorized physical access, and this may not be clear to some Boards and senior managers. We’d like to let senior management and the Board know a little more about the advantages of a high- functioning security organization and what it can bring to a company. "
"Why does corporate security frequently garner less attention from Boards and senior management than cyber security? A lot of it comes down to money – a severe information breach can cost a company much more than a single physical security event. But many small losses do add up. In its 2020 Report to the Nations, the ACFE estimates that organizations lose 5% of revenue to internal #fraud each year, and fraud prevention and detection represents only one aspect of what corporate security is involved in. "
Incident management remains the crucible of success or failure for all aspiring or assumed operational resilience models and practices. That is, what works on paper, in the absence of real-world testing and threats, is quickly validated, falters or collapses when exposed to an 'incident' and subsequent management. Moreover, incident management remains the dangerous or successful intersection between complex, networked and disparate socio-technical systems. Degrees of confidence or assurance around safety, security, risk and resilience flow from this nexus.
"Process areas in this category are intended to catalyze the organization’s view of resilience as a repeatable, predictable, manageable, and improvable process over which it has a significant level of active and direct control. "
- Carallie, R., Allen, J. & White, D. (2011 ) CERT Resilience Management Model: A maturity model for managing operational resilience, Addison-Wesley, p.58
Registers, plans, spreadsheets, matrices and software routinely obfuscate or conceal critical tensions, solid connections or missing elements. As a result, when the 'big day' comes, it is the little things that get you. Hence the premise and focus of resilience engineering. What am I missing? What little, seemingly insignificant elements, only checked very 9 months or 4 years by some obscure system or person halfway around the world... have I not accounted for, and when they fail, we fail?
Incident management is never static nor finished. However, it remains an indicator and routine predictor for control, resourcefulness, recovery and survival within operational resilience practices and models. What does yours look like? How detailed, accurate, and dynamic is it? Is this the model you stress test and report... or is it some other PowerPoint placeholder or similarly unsubstantiated visual used in routine reporting?
How is it different from 'management' in general? While security management shares some similarities with general management, it differs in its focus and objectives. General management is concerned with overseeing an organization's operations and achieving its goals and objectives, while security management is primarily concerned with protecting the organization's assets, employees, and operations from various risks and threats.
Security management involves specific techniques and tools, such as risk assessments, threat analysis, incident response planning, and security awareness training. In contrast, general management typically focuses on functions such as planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling.
Moreover, security management often involves collaboration with law enforcement agencies, government regulators, and other external stakeholders, whereas general management focuses more on internal stakeholders such as employees, shareholders, and customers.
In summary, while security management is a crucial aspect of general management, it has a specific focus on identifying and mitigating risks and threats to an organization's security, which differentiates it from general management's broader responsibilities of managing an organization's resources to achieve its objectives.
Sampling #bias persistently and consistently taints audits, research, risk, actuarial, security and safety statistics, narratives and analysis. Because it is predicated on the flawed, unitary utilisation of purely statistical 'random' sampling of 5-10%, if you're lucky. As a result, the samples are neither random, targeted, nor representative, further negating probability and likelihood estimates in addition to quantitative risk analysis. Primarily because cases, data, information or knowledge were not selected with more evolved, sophisticated models or with 'purpose' in mind.
"Strategically selecting information-rich cases to study, cases that by their nature and substance will illuminate the inquiry question being investigated" -
Patton, M. Q. (2014). Qualitative research & evaluation methods: Integrating theory and practice. Sage publications.p.403
Given there are no less than 40 purposeful sampling options for specific analytic requirements and contexts, employing just one repeatedly remains flawed. Conflating one or more of these consolidated findings only amplifies the error to the point where accuracy and knowledge are no longer likely or the true basis of inquiry. This becomes performative and adds to the rituals of verification, inherently persistent and flawed in auditing-dominated practices. Because accountants and mathematicians are not sociologists nor trained in qualitative methods. Hence they use one tool only or remain unaware of numerous alternates, creating 'nonprobability' outcomes and numbers. In sum, unless sampling is clear, documented and consistent, you are likely reviewing blunt instrument analysis derived from statistical sampling, inherently wrong or fundamentally flawed. Because an apple is not an orange and there are complex, nuanced and divergent audiences and applications for both, beyond numerical value(s).
"Risk management is a critical function in any business or organization. As a risk manager, it is your responsibility to identify, assess, and mitigate risks that could impact the organization's operations, reputation, and bottom line. Here are ten tips for risk managers to help them carry out their duties effectively:"
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"Under the Corporate Governance Code in Central Government, Boards are tasked with setting the organisation’s risk appetite and ensuring that the framework of governance, risk management and control is in place to manage risk within this. The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee plays a crucial role in supporting the Board to meet these obligations.
Risk, Safety, Security, Resilience & Management Sciences (Applied)
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Scalability & Elasticity: High Performance Lead Auditor
1yThanks Tony Ridley, MSc CSyP MSyI appreciate the invite the topics covered seem very on point and informative.
Realtor Associate @ Next Trend Realty LLC | HAR REALTOR, IRS Tax Preparer
1yLove this.