Risk Intelligence Roundup for July 2024

Welcome to our Risk Intelligence Roundup newsletter, where we focus on delivering curated compliance insights and solutions to empower your risk management strategy.

It is fair to say that July 2024 has been a busy month. Newsmakers have had plenty of stories across the world of sport, politics, and global affairs to keep their journalists busy and their readers happy. But there have also been some significant headlines in the finance, IT, and cybersecurity sectors, and it is those we will focus on during our monthly roundup.

News from the Cyber Security Sector

UK Warns Against Cyber Threat from North Korea

On July 25, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre issued an advisory in combination with South Korea and the United States to warn against possible cyber threats from North Korea.

They focused on a hacking group known as Andariel, believed to be part of North Korea’s efforts to disrupt western infrastructure. The group has already targeted various industries, including aerospace and defence, all with a view to feeding this information back to entities within the secretive state.

The advisory, published here, goes into great detail about the methods and programs that the group has used to infiltrate systems in the US, UK, and elsewhere, including widespread ransomware attacks.

It is a stark warning to Western governments about the importance of cyber security in an increasingly unstable world.

Massive CrowdStrike Outage Shuts Down Global Networks

The biggest IT news of 2024 is the CrowdStrike outrage, which affected millions of people worldwide and temporarily brought the world to a standstill.

It began on Friday, June 19, when Windows PCs and other Microsoft systems displayed the infamous “blue screen of death”, which is a literal blue “Recovery” screen that appears when Windows devices are unable to boot.

Users all over the world began reporting issues. On the day of the outrage, over 5 million users reported issues to Downdetector, and in the days that followed, Microsoft estimated that the issue had affected at least 8.5 million computers worldwide.

However, the problem extended far beyond home PC users trying to access their computers or devices. The same systems were used in businesses worldwide. Uber saw a 57-fold increase in the number of users reporting downtime, while emergency services, public transportation, delivery services, online banks, and even home security services all suffered the same issues.

Just a couple of hours after the first few reports, over 5,000 flights had been cancelled around the world, stranding passengers at airlines and causing chaos at major transportation hubs.

Microsoft later confirmed that the issue was caused by a “read-of-bounds safety error” in a driver developed by CrowdStrike. It was a minor update that caused a massive issue and resulted in a lot of frustration for individuals and businesses worldwide.

CrowdStrike Holdings, a US cybersecurity firm, was flying high prior to this incident. Its stock jumped from around $50 in early 2020 to a high of around $390 at the beginning of July. At the time of writing, it has fallen below $260, a drop of 34% in the last 30 days .

News from the IT Sector

Revolut Gets a UK Banking License

Toward the end of July, major online financial service provider, Revolut, announced that it had received a UK banking license and was undergoing the process of becoming an officially registered UK bank.

Revolut is one of the biggest and most exciting fintech companies in the world, with over 9 million users across the UK alone. Currently, those customers can do everything they can with a traditional bank, including using cards, transferring money, investing, and opening a savings account.

With a UK banking license, Revolut will be able to take things further. In the future, Revolut will no longer act as an intermediary and will be allowed to actually hold customer funds, thus allowing the company to provide more features and benefits to its members.?

From the customer’s perspective, it also means that Revolut will be subject to the same strict regulations and compensation schemes imposed on traditional banks, thus protecting their money and giving them more peace of mind.

Revolut was already a trusted name in the UK banking sector, and this will no doubt make the brand even more popular.

Alphabet Moved to Buy Wiz

Google’s parent company, Alphabet, has made a number of highly publicised acquisitions over the decades, including Motorola Mobility, DoubleClick, Fitbit, and HTC. But earlier this month, it was lining up an acquisition that would have surpassed all of those in total value.

It was in talks to buy Wiz, a security firm with customers such as Amazon and Microsoft on its books, for around $23 million . However, Wiz walked away from the deal and chose to chase an IPO instead.

While on the topic of acquisitions, do you know how to properly scrutinise a company you intend to acquire and how to protect your assets and interests from potentially harmful mergers?

You can read all about it in our article: The Essential Steps of Due Diligence in Mergers and Acquisitions .

Sanctions News

Arrests and Other News Related to Sanctions

Although there have been no major new Western sanctions against countries like Russia and Iran, we did see a couple of small sanctions, as well as some efforts to penalise those found to be in breach of these orders:

July 2?

Douglas Robertson, the former vice president of KanRus Trading Company, pled guilty to several money laundering and export control breaches. The charges included selling export control items to Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

July 4?

The UK National Crime Agency applied for a forfeiture order that would allow them to access ￡1.1 million frozen from the accounts of Peter Aven, a Russian oligarch accused of supporting the Russian regime.

July 17?

The European Parliament reinstated its firm support for Ukraine after being re-elected. Its resolution included a notice that states Russia must be held financially responsible for the destruction of Ukraine.

July 18?

The UK took measures to clamp down on a fleet of Russian oil tankers alleged to be involved in circumventing Russian sanctions. They sanctioned 11 tankers in this so-called “shadow fleet”, while also calling on other nations to act.

Did You Know…

We are living in an age of big mergers and acquisitions , as proven by Google’s colossal bid for Wiz. These takeovers are incredibly complicated, and not just because of the number of negotiations and amount of money involved.

Companies also run the risk of doing business with sanctioned or charged individuals that could jeopardise the deal or the reputation of their company.

That is where A Data Pro’s risk intelligence services come in. We use a variety of methods to screen every entity, ensuring they are not on any sanctions list and there are no red flags in their online presence.

It gives you some peace of mind when completing a deal and lets you focus your attention on the negotiation.

So, if you are planning a big move or need some assistance with sanctions, PEP, or SOE lists, adverse media screening, or due diligence reports, get touch with A Data Pro's risk intelligence experts .

See you next month! ????