Author Archives: Hilary Tuttle

About Hilary Tuttle

Hilary Tuttle is the managing editor of the Risk Management Monitor and Risk Management magazine.
Игроки всегда ценят удобный и стабильный доступ к играм. Для этого идеально подходит зеркало Вавады, которое позволяет обходить любые ограничения, обеспечивая доступ ко всем бонусам и слотам.

Department of Transportation Orders Investment in V2V Communication for Cars

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Car Accident

In this month’s Risk Management magazine, Katherine Heires discussed the risks of the Internet of Things —the increasing interconnectedness facilitated by a vast array of products incorporating smart technology and the internet to customize the user experience.

Automation in cars can control just about every component of the driving experience, right down to music, speed and temperature. But so much assistance can also lead drivers to tune out behind the wheel. “Lost in the debate around autonomous technology is that these features pull workload away from the driver and can result in under-arousal,” Bryan Reimer, who researches driver efficiency issues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told the New York Times.

So carmakers are now developing technology to help keep drivers alert. According to the New York Times:

Both versions analyze the way a driver acts behind the wheel, taking note of over 70 parameters in the first few minutes of a drive. As the drive continues, the system continuously compares driver activity—including steering movement, steering speed and control operation—to the baseline. It also considers factors like crosswinds and road condition, so as not to be misled by differences in driver response that are related to weather or terrain.

A display on the dashboard provides a continuously updated analysis of attention level and elapsed time since the last stop. If driver inattention approaches a critical level, an alert is issued and a rest stop encouraged.

The government is also now turning to the Internet of Things to try to keep drivers safer. On Monday, the Department of Transportation announced plans to move forward with V2V technology that allows vehicles to communicate with each other in order to prevent collisions. Operating on a dedicated radio spectrum similar to WiFi, V2V systems utilize transponders that can communicate a car’s location, direction and speed up to 10 times per second to surrounding cars. Vehicles equipped with this technology can alert their drivers to potential collisions and some could automatically slow down to avoid accidents.

According to the DOT, V2V could prevent up to 80% of accidents that don’t involve drunk drivers or mechanical failure. “Vehicle-to-vehicle technology represents the next generation of auto safety improvements, building on the life-saving achievements we’ve already seen with safety belts and air bags,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. “By helping drivers avoid crashes, this technology will play a key role in improving the way people get where they need to go while ensuring that the U.S. remains the leader in the global automotive industry.”

Counterintelligence Now Riskier Than Terrorism, Intelligence Officials Report

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National Security

During a Senate hearing yesterday, top U.S. intelligence officials released a new threat assessment report that outlines the top risks to national security. While cybersecurity remains the greatest threat for a second year, the report said dangers from foreign spies and from leakers have surpassed terrorism as threats.

This revision follows a year that illustrated just how vulnerable the United States is to counterintelligence—both foreign spying and the leaking of information. In May, the Defense Department explicitly accused the Chinese government of launching cyberattacks against the U.S. government computer systems and defense contractors “in a deliberate, government-developed strategy to steal intellectual property and gain strategic advantage.”

According to Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, the theft of proprietary information and technology by the Chinese constitutes “the largest transfer of wealth illegally in the world’s history” and has cost the U.S. an estimated $2 trillion. “We are in a cyber war today,” Rogers said in July. “Most Americans don’t know it. They go about their lives happily. But we are in a cyber war today.”

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper also pointed to leaks from National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden to illustrate the danger posed by the exposure of classified information. Terrorists are “going to school” on the information revealed, he claimed, calling Snowden’s act the “most damaging theft of intelligence information in our history.”

According to Clapper’s report, the top five threats from 2013 and for 2014 are:

2013

  1. Cyber-attacks, cyber-espionage
  2. Terrorism and Transnational Organized Crime
  3. WMD Proliferation
  4. Counterintelligence
  5. Counterspace (attacks on satellites, communications)

2014

  1. Cyber-attacks, cyber-espionage
  2. Counterintelligence
  3. Terrorism
  4. WMD Proliferation
  5. Counterspace

Does Reputation Really Impact the Bottom Line?

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Last month, the American Customer Satisfaction Index released its latest figures for 190 major brands across all industries. The finance and insurance industries got some good news: satisfaction increased across the sector in 2013. But a careful look at some of the “worst” companies in the survey reveals a trend that may call into question some traditional wisdom on one key risk: reputation.

As Eric Chemi points out in Bloomberg Businessweek, a comparison between these satisfaction scores and 2013 stock returns – factoring in only publicly-traded companies with at least a full year of trading data – shows that customer service scores have no relevance to stock market returns. In fact, when Chemi added a regression line, he found that stock returns actually decreased as satisfaction scores went up.

Customer Satisfaction vs. Stock Returns

The slope is minimal, so there is no statistical relationship between the variables, but the trend itself is curious. Clearly, other factors account for the market success of a publicly traded company, and reputation may impact a company’s bottom line off the NYSE floor. This chart does illustrate, however, that good guys do tend to finish last in even the broadest groupings.

2013 Performance

So, if reputation doesn’t necessarily impact one major metric of a company’s success, is there a secondary market for being liked? Does reputation make or break other metrics, like net profits or market share? Given that many other studies seem to suggest that reputation does have a negative effect on stock prices, there is likely more at work here.

Widening Wealth Gap Is Biggest Global Risk, World Economic Forum Predicts

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Wealth Disparity

According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks 2014 report, the chronic gap between the incomes of the richest and poorest citizens is the risk most likely to cause serious global damage in the next decade. Looking forward, the 700 experts queried emphasized that the next generation will only feel this disparity more acutely if current conditions continue. Those presently coming of age face “twin challenges” of reduced employment opportunity and rising education costs, prompting the World Economic Forum to consider the impact on political and social stability as well as economic development.

“Many young people today face an uphill battle,” explained David Cole, group chief risk officer of Swiss Re. “As a result of the financial crisis and globalization, the younger generation in the mature markets struggle with ever fewer job opportunities and the need to support an aging population. While in the emerging markets there are more jobs to be had, the workforce does not yet possess the broad based skill-sets necessary to satisfy demand. It’s vital we sit down with young people now and begin planning solutions aimed at creating fit-for-purpose educational systems, functional job-markets, efficient skills exchanges and the sustainable future we all depend on.”

After a widening global wealth gap, experts predicted that extreme weather events will be the global risk next most likely to cause systemic shock on a global scale. They identified fiscal crises as the global risk with the potential to have the biggest impact over the next 10 years.

The top five most likely and most potentially impactful global risks are:

Most Likely Risks

1. Income disparity (societal risk)

2. Extreme weather events (environmental risk)

3. Unemployment and underemployment (economic risk)

4. Climate change (environmental risk)

5. Cyberattacks (technological risk)

 

Most Potentially Impactful Risks

1. Fiscal crises (economic risk)

2. Climate change (environmental risk)

3. Water crises (environmental risk)

4. Unemployment and underemployment (economic risk)

5. Critical information infrastructure breakdown(technological risk)