Cyberthreats – Croixstone

3 Essential Focus Areas for Your Board

As a boutique management consulting firm, the catalyst behind many of Croixstone’s engagements is tied to priorities established by private company boards.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) is a professional association with a mission to empower directors and transform boards to be future ready. For more than 40 years, NACD has been on the leading edge of corporate governance by setting standards of excellence that have elevated board performance.

The Croixstone team read with interest a recent publication by NACD spotlighting the fact that private company boards are facing increased pressure to both capitalize on and protect against disruption. Whether coming from the environment, rapid advances in technology, the political landscape, and/or regulatory realms, the ongoing threat of disruption demands that directors be flexible, agile, and ready to address these fast-evolving challenges.

NACD recommends that boards prioritize their discussions on the following three areas:

Human Capital: Especially on matters of hiring, retention, and succession planning.
Cyber Threats: In 2021, ransomware events increased by 700%. It is essential that directors understand their company’s vulnerabilities and the board’s role in addressing these challenges.
ESG: The rise in ESG (environmental, social and governance) mandates that boards provide strong leadership in guiding the management of their companies to allocate the appropriate resources and attention.

Learn more here.

The Rise in Cyberattacks

Those of us who live in the Charlotte region and other locations up and down the East Coast are dealing with the high-impact aftermath of the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack. Here are some fast facts about the rise in cyberattacks to digest while you wait in line for that critical tank of gasoline.

Payments to ransomware attackers rose 337% from 2019 to 2020, reaching more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrency, according to figures just released by Chainalysis, a blockchain analysis company.

Healthcare companies experienced a 9,851% increase in cyberattack attempts from 2019 to 2020.

94% of malware is delivered via email.

Every minute, $2,900,000 is lost to cybercrime and top companies pay $25 per minute due to cybersecurity breaches.

46% of C-level officers suffered from a spyware attack in 2019.

Read to learn more about top cybersecurity facts, figures and statistics from CSO magazine.

We’re Serving Up Consulting BUZZ!

Our leaders at Croixstone spend time each week speaking at length with clients, prospects and consultants across the greater Charlotte region and beyond. We’re often asked the following questions by those in our professional networks.

What’s the buzz out there?
What is top of mind for companies in 2021?
What are you hearing from consultants?

Here’s a bulleted list, in no particular order, of the things we are hearing and seeing from clients, prospects and consultants.

Hiring is difficult. The economy is rebounding, hiring is up, and it is increasingly difficult to fill roles with top-tier talent. The latest Workforce Report from LinkedIn provides insights into the hiring boom.

IPOs are booming. Global IPO deal numbers and proceeds have posted the best performance witnessed in 20 years (and this is driving demand in management consulting). Read EY’s IPO Q1 2021 Report to learn more.

SPACs are hot, hot, hot. Special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) IPOs were more active in Q1 2021 than through all of 2020.

M&A activity is on fire. During the first quarter of 2021, global mergers and acquisitions activity totaled $1.3 trillion, up 94% compared to Q1 of last year.

ERP implementation activity is robust. Many of our clients are planning ERP implementations to go live in 2022. The global ERP software market size stood at USD 38.15 billion in 2018 and is projected to reach USD 71.63 billion by 2026, exhibiting a CAGR of 8.55.

Hackers are targeting the middle market. One-third of middle market organizations reported ransomware attacks in 2020, according to a recent cybersecurity special report from RSM.

COVID-19 trauma is an ongoing issue. Employers are dealing with employee pandemic stress that is inevitably spilling over into at-work life.

COVID’s Other Headache – FRAUD!

Occupational fraud not only destroys the reputations of professionals and organizations, it can also destroy the financial footing of an organization.

Croixstone Consulting has once again joined forces with The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners to create awareness for fraud as an Official Supporter of International Fraud Awareness Week.

Joining organizations across the globe including Deloitte, Deutsch Bank, EY, FTI Consulting, Grant Thornton, Jeld-Wen, JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Nestle SA, and PwC, Croixstone is working this week to share best practices on fraud prevention and encourage our clients and partners to proactively remedy weak spots in their current controls.

2020 is an especially important year to create awareness of fraud. Occupational fraud proliferates during recessions and times of economic instability as companies and employees feel increased pressure to meet the challenges of a down economy.

Learn more about International Fraud Awareness Week here.

Links to Navigate the NOW Normal.

In last week’s blog post, we provided a list of links to help consultants, job seekers, and others navigate the “now” normal. In this week’s post, we provide additional links with a focus on networking.

8 smart ways to keep networking while you’re stuck at home.
The wisest among us are not letting the quarantine stop mission-critical networking. Fast Company magazine shares 8 tips from a networking guru.
C lick here.

How to network in the age of Coronavirus.
A marketing & branding consultant shares her advice with Ladders.
Click here.

The dawn of the virtual happy hour.
Happy hours haven’t gone away. They are still going strong, and they definitely fuel networking. Learn more via Forbes.
Click here.

Virtual happy hours are boosting morale at work.
Chief Executive magazine provides additional perspective on the virtual happy hour trend.
Click here.

10 tips to secure your Zoom video calls and meetings.
Stay safe with these helpful tips from cybersecurity advisory Joseph Steinberg.
Click here.

Red Flags of Fraud

Croixstone Consulting joined forces recently with the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) as an official supporter of International Fraud Awareness Week. We were part of a global effort to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education.

Do you know the most common behavioral red flags of fraud? Learn more by viewing this infographic with data from the 2018 ACFE Report to the Nations.