Monthly Archives: April 2013

What to Know About the New Avian Flu Outbreak

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It’s hard to know what to think about this new bird flu. In one respect, this new strain, H7N9, is deeply concerning since it has never been seen before. On the other, these types of things tend to never be covered properly in the mainstream media so the constant, panicked, hype-fueled reaction does little good in terms of helping people prepare for a potentially serious public health emergency.

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Fortunately, Wired is here.

In a great primer, they delve into all the relevant information that any organization should know.

By now you’ve no doubt heard that international health authorities are deeply concerned about a new flu strain that has surfaced in China: H7N9, which so far has sickened at least 16 people and killed six of them. The outbreak has a number of features that are troubling. It emerged rapidly; the first cases were announced five days ago, and the first death apparently occurred on Feb. 27. It is widely distributed: Confirmed cases have been found in three adjoining provinces that wrap around Shanghai, and also in Shanghai municipality itself.

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And it is novel: H7N9 has never been recorded in humans before.

For infectious-disease geeks, it’s that last aspect that raises a particular nervous thrill. Most of the time, most people take flu for granted, to the point of not bothering to be vaccinated against it because they assume it will not make them very sick. But every once in a while, flu defies expectations, and roars up into a pandemic: worldwide spread, high numbers of cases, high rates of death. When a pandemic occurs, almost definitionally, it is because of a new strain to which humans have no prior immunity.

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In human terms, H7N9 is a new strain.

This is all made more confusing because it is happening in China, an infinitely complex place with an ambivalent and contradictory attitude toward transparency. Public health has never quite recovered from the realization, 10 years ago, that the Chinese government had attempted to conceal the beginning of the SARS epidemic, which was exposed — and transmitted to the world — because a doctor from a town in southern China traveled (some say fled) to Hong Kong to attend a family wedding (some say to seek treatment he could not have gotten at home).

In the years since, some parts of Chinese public health have seemed to open up enormously: The government has threatened sellers of spoiled and counterfeit food with prosecution, and researchers have been allowed to investigate the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria around the country’s new mega-farms. And yet, just before this new outbreak broke open, China was being challenged for not giving clear answers to why thousands of dead pigs were showing up in its rivers.

This is just the beginning.

Head over and read the rest to get the best take I’ve seen thus far on the largest health threat, both to individuals and business continuity, that the globe has seen in several years. Wired also offers a great list of resources to follow as this potential crisis continues to evolve. Worth bookmarking.

Lessons Learned from the Lululemon Recall

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Lululemon’s Chief Product Officer, Sheree Waterson, recently announced she would be stepping down following the fallout from the yoga apparel company’s recall of some of its unintentionally see-through yoga pants. The popular piece of workout clothing makes up about 17% of all women’s yoga pants sold in Lululemon stores, and the company noted that the recall would “significantly hurt its financial results.” From the financial hit on earnings to the reputational damage to the brand to the forced departure of Sheree Waterson, Lululemon’s voluntary recall highlights the importance of thinking through and planning for potential risks, which means having a strategy in place for product recalls.

In the event of a recall situation for a popular product, it is important for companies to consider not just the day of the recall, but anticipate the processes and communications in the weeks following. Companies must have a complete plan of action for ensuring that the recall is effectively communicated to distributors and customers, the product is removed from shelves, and the potential varying ramifications—in this case, the decrease in quarterly sales for Lululemon and the exit of a top executive—from a voluntary recall are considered in the action plan.

As we’ve seen in recent news, it’s not an “if” but “when” a company faces a recall, and so being prepared for the outcome is imperative.

Even in a voluntary recall, the fallout that could occur is unclear and can be damaging.

The best way to navigate a voluntary product recall is to ensure that there is not only a process in place for the immediate actions, but also that there is a full plan to better alleviate and potentially avoid the multiple risks that might stem from it.

Lululemon’s recall highlights how proper preparation must address various scenarios and risks in order to avoid having a recall spiral out of control. In today’s market with global supply chains, companies face increasing uncertainties that make developing a recall management plan an even more pressing issue.

It is critical to not wait for a crisis to strike before developing a plan for such events, and instead build a plan now in order to best mitigate a product crisis.

Don’t Get Careless with Your Passwords

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With stories of identity theft and data breaches hitting the news on an almost constant basis, it’s no wonder that we all get a little tired of hearing how about how at risk we are from the prying eyes of cybercriminals. Of course, if you’re the victim of some sort of hacking incident, you’ll probably wish you paid more attention. The problem is that we have passwords for everything and keeping track of all of them is a giant hassle.

As the following infographic from security software provider ZoneAlarm demonstrates, this password fatigue tends to make us a little careless and puts us at greater risk. A strong password is the front line to keeping your data safe, so old standbys like “password” and “12345” are not going to cut it. There are many helpful guides out there for creating secure passwords that you can actually remember, so maybe it’s time to choose a new strategy. It certainly beats cleaning the bathroom (regardless of what 38% of people said below).

 

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The Risks of Social Media: Internal Audit

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Internal audit has never been easy, but modern business practices are challenging IA professionals even further. Social media, fraud risk and data analysis tools are areas in need of attention and, in some cases, improvement.

The 2013 Internal Audit Capabilities and Needs Survey, released by Protiviti, show that 43% of respondents have no social media policy within their organization. Among those with a policy, many fail to address even the most basic issues, such as information security and approved use of social media applications.

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What’s most alarming, however, is that more than half (51%) of organizations do not address social media risk as a part of their risk assessment process — 45% indicate they have no plans to do so in the coming year’s audit plans. Of those that do address the topic, 84% rated their organization’s social media risk-assessment capability as “not effective” or “moderately effective.”

“The survey findings are surprising in that they show how many businesses are either inadequately prepared or altogether inactive in putting effective processes and policies in place around social media,” said Brian Christensen, executive vice president, global internal audit, at Protiviti. “From a risk management perspective, this poses significant potential problems for businesses that can range from reputational risk to IT infrastructure risk as a result of unchecked exposures to customer, vendor and company information.

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Other findings related to internal audit include:

  • Continuous auditing was the top priority in terms of audit process knowledge in 2011 and 2012, but dropped down to #18 in the 2013 rankings.
  • For audit process knowledge, auditing IT – new technologies was the third-highest “needs-improvement” priority, and scored significantly lower than any other area evaluated with regard to existing competency.
  • Concerns among chief audit executives were generally aligned with the broader sampling of respondents.
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    However, they did rank audit process knowledge around Computer-assisted Audit Techniques (CAATs) as a higher priority for improvement, compared to the overall ranking.

In 2013, we can no longer view social media as a “new” risk. Businesses must prepare for the worst, whether it’s an attack on a company’s reputation via Facebook or a rogue employee stealing an organization’s Twitter account password, social media risk can manifest itself in many ways. There is only one way for companies to deal with it, however.

Be prepared.