Elevate your Compliance with Intelect Group. Our monthly round up of news items which are of particular relevance to those businesses regulated for the purposes of Anti-Money Laundering.
‘We prevent bad things happening to good people and their businesses’.
Cyber Security
Telegram exploits
Sift (a fraud prevention company) have released the latest update to the Digital Trust Index and drawn attention to a tool on the messaging application Telegram, which it seems is being used commit account takeovers and identity thefts.
The solution is apparently easy to use as a fraud-as-a-service application that even novice cybercriminals can use to exploit compromised data.
Available for purchase, users have the possibility to search for clients or corporate accounts to obtain credentials that have been part of large-scale data breaches or otherwise maliciously gained.
Note – Something to be aware of if you are utilising Telegram, just because a system is marketing itself as secure and/or private it doesn’t necessarily that cyber criminals won’t be targeting you and your information using it.
Organised Crime
In the wake of EncroChat
EncroChat ‘was’ a European based network and service provider that offered encrypted smartphones to its subscribers. It was favoured by criminals to communicate because they believed themselves to be immune from interception by law enforcement agencies.
The system was eventually cracked and subsequent investigations that commenced three years ago have so far led to thousands of arrests across the world and the seizure of hundreds of tons of drugs.
It rarely takes long for another system to fill the void though and thankfully the Australian Federal Police have revealed their recent successes with another platform called Ghost, which was being used by organised criminals.
The story makes for an interesting read, involving crypto currency, a computer whizz and connections to Australia, Ireland, Italy, Canada and Sweden.
Note – A reminder (should we need one) that organised criminals operate globally, just like legitimate businesses, they need communications, people, infrastructure and of course, somewhere to launder their ill-gotten gains.
Regulatory
Heard of ESG Due Diligence?
It’s coming your way very soon and it may be time to start planning.
The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, was adopted earlier this year. It requires businesses to identify and address adverse human rights and environmental impacts in their own operations, their subsidiaries and those of business partners in their supply chains.
The article makes for an informative read, but one interesting aspect is where businesses operating in the UK could be held criminally liable if it is found that they know, or suspect, they have benefited from forced labour anywhere in their supply chains.
Note – For those of you that work in AML Compliance you will be well versed in what ‘know or suspect’ means to you. For those that don’t, the threshold for suspicion is low, in line with R v Da Silva (2006) ‘you have a reportable suspicion if you think there is a possibility which is more than fanciful, that the relevant facts exist’.
Our advice? An area to monitor and closely.
