Risks and assurance of emerging technologies

As we begin the new decade, revolutionary technologies are promising new solutions, innovations, and new ways of connecting with our markets and customers. As with any opportunity to expand, however, they also carry with them risks that companies must begin to consider right now.

With such a projected growth, businesses must be aware of the risks associated with the new technologies. It allows professionals working in corporate security, risk management, and information security can begin to formulate strategies

We must be aware of the risks and technical assurance of emerging technologies:

Compliance and Legal Violations

Consumers and regulators are expecting businesses to recognize ways to address, mitigate, and minimize threats to the privacy and security of personal data stored within the cloud. It is important to stay up-to-date with current and future laws governing data protection, the compliance as well as risk reduction strategies must go beyond just complying with the law. Customers are increasingly looking for companies to be transparent about where their information is stored, who has access to it, and what can be done with it.

Fairness and Equity

Machine learning is an exciting type of disruptive technology in a variety of applications due to the possibility of eliminating human biases out of the equation when making crucial decisions and judgments. But it is only successful if the data set and model themselves are devoid of bias.

Spoofed Chatbots

Imposters can design a fraudulent chatbot that has the brand name of a legitimate company and make it available in an app store for customers. From there, they'll have direct access to the customer and all the sensitive data or personally identifiable details (PII) that they're prepared to obtain to help clients with their genuine questions. To make things even difficult, hackers might not make it necessary for users to install an app to see a spoofed chatbot. By using malware, they could be able to put their fake chatbot on the official website of the business.

Ethical and Legal Concerns

As AI systems grow more sophisticated and have more autonomy, dealing with the legal and ethical issues of these disruptive technologies will be the main concern. For instance, businesses that are studying self-driving vehicles have to deal with their philosophical questions like the trolley issue. If an accident occurs, is it okay for a self-driving vehicle to alter its course to spare more people, even though it puts the lives of its passengers at risk? Which lives are more important either the passengers in the car or pedestrians who walk around the vehicle?

Public Safety

Data breaches involving customers' financial and personal information are enough to cause a lot of grief However, the impact is only for the person who is at risk. What happens when hackers can hack into the security of an IoT network that is responsible for managing the public infrastructure? From stealing traffic lights to shutting down power stations There are a lot of possibilities and the risk is serious.

If the IoT is used to improve infrastructure like electrical grids, it must be secured with physical security as well as cybersecurity.

Some ways to manage technology risk

Every organization is subject to uncertainties. The impact this uncertainty can have on the goals of an organization is termed "risk." Risk is the issue for the management team is to figure out the level of uncertainty or risk is acceptable and how to control it to a reasonable degree.

In the past, we've looked to risk in terms of an incident that could result in damage or loss and needs to be dealt with through insurance or the disaster recovery plan. Risk also includes opportunities and chance. Risk management encompasses techniques and processes, systems, and individuals that support the efficient management of risks and opportunities. Risk management aims to provide the stakeholders with the confidence that the objectives of your business will be met and opportunities are recognized and taken advantage of and that future risk-response choices are appropriate.

A risk management plan can examine financial, strategic operational, compliance risk management, and compliance that affect every department and function within an organization. The program could also be implemented at the department or departmental function (e.g., technology, or similar operational space) or even at the project level.

Technology Risk management

Staff from Operations may be asked to assess the risks posed by technology in the context of a larger Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) initiative. Regulators in highly-regulated industries are also driving demands for a focus on technology-related risk control. Many regulators require that systems are in place, specifically to analyze and manage risk associated with security and confidentiality of sensitive customer (e.g., cardholder, patient, customer, and student.) information.

Think about these:

• Disaster recovery and preparedness
• Security of data
• Privacy of personal information
• Conformity (with the laws and regulations)
• System Development Life Cycle ( software development) projects
• Integration and implementation of large-scale systems projects
• The management of vendor/servicer contracts

Then, consider the following questions concerning these efforts:

• What could go wrong?
• What could happen if something isn't working?
• What can we do to prevent the possibility of it happening?
• What can we do to know when something is wrong?
• What should we do if it isn't working?

These answers constitute the foundation of the management of risk, including the identification of risks and their impact, remediation, as well as monitoring and responding.

Risk management approach

Risk management is a fast-growing field, and there is a variety of "competing" guidelines that describe the procedure. The ERM process must be handled as the management of a project. It requires leadership and sponsorship and a plan of action as well as a scope, objectives, and goals. 

It is also essential to understand the other Governance and risk management initiatives that are in progress within your company What standards are in place and how your work can be integrated into the structure of your organization. The majority of standards outline the following tasks that are common to all organizations:

• Setting the scope and context for risk
• Recognizing and analyzing risk
• Designing risk management mitigation strategies
• Implementing the strategies
• Monitoring and evaluating results

Scope and context

It is essential to comprehend the goals of the company, its strategy, and philosophy, culture, and philosophy as well as external and internal SWOTs (strengths, weaknesses opportunities, threats, and strengths) to fully comprehend the risks that could be posed and their consequences.

If there isn't a formal process that is in place, it might be difficult to establish the top management's risk management strategy and attitude to risk, their determination to be competent and ethical standards. They should be able to be understood so that you can have a clear direction in evaluating risk management strategies later on.

Analysis and identification of risks

Risk analysis and identification is the method used to determine the likelihood and impact (impact) of an incident. The process needs to ensure that all-important actions within the organization (or business unit or function or project) are considered, and all risky actions are recognized. Group discussions that are facilitated can be an efficient method to collect the necessary information. Other methods for identifying risk include questionnaires, industry benchmarking, scenario analysis, the results of event tracking and analysis of historical trends, etc.

The analysis should contain quantifiable factors like percents, dollars, time, and the number of transactions. It is also normal to consider qualitative factors like losing market share and customers and reputation damage, as well as the loss of trust among stakeholders.

Designing risk strategies

After the risk analysis has been completed, it is time to determine the importance of risks for your company and whether the risk should be taken into consideration or dealt with. Risk reduction (fixing the issue) is the most common method of dealing with problems. Other options comprise risk transfer (to an outside party) or the financing of risk (through insurance) and the risk of avoiding (conscious decision to avoid taking the risk) and accepting risk (deal with it if and when it occurs). It is easy to accept risks with the lowest likelihood and likelihood of impact. It is the same regarding mitigating or fixing risks that have an extremely high probability and the possibility of impact. 

Implementation

Implementation goes beyond the management of a specific risk. The management of risks is a constant program that needs leadership as well as the ability to steer the plane. The factors that determine success are:

• In determining the roles and responsibilities of the Board and senior management internal audit, business units
• Establishing appropriate procedures and policies
• A culture of risk-awareness by conducting ongoing training
• In the development of policies and procedures for responding to incidents that include contingency plans
• The development of performance metrics and  a structure of reporting

Monitoring and measuring the effectiveness

A successful risk management strategy needs a monitoring and review structure that ensures that controls are functioning effectively and the changes within the organization are properly accounted for. Monitoring can be integrated into the current governance structure. Think about how risk assessment and monitoring could be integrated