Invited by Piytr at ABB Group, the Switzerland-headquartered industrial automation and robotics group, to brief its employees and finance office on security threats.
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Piytr at ABB Group, a $28Bn group headquartered in Switzerland with over 100,000 employees and widely regarded as one of the world's top industrial automation and robotics companies, asked Matthew to educate ABB's employees and finance office on the latest technology and non-technology enabled security threats.
The session followed an earlier, broader look at the future of cyber and security that Matthew ran virtually from Standard Chartered's offices in Accra, Ghana. This time he coached over 17,000 ABB staff on the latest cyber and physical security trends and exploits, showed them how to identify and defend against them, and gave them a 20,000 foot view of how hackers, hacker communities and the serious organised crime industry work.
"Organisations need a Chatham House culture that gives employees the space and freedom to share their concerns without fear of judgement or retribution."Matthew Griffin, Germany, November 2022
He then looked at threats from the CFO's office, at behavioural and social engineering techniques, and at future threats including synthetic content and deepfakes. He also discussed what the ability to use quantum computing to crack the majority of today's encryption will mean for ABB's industrial automation products and services, including digital and meta twins.
Finally, he switched to defence, showing staff how to reduce the risk of being compromised and stressing the importance of a Chatham House culture that gives employees the space and freedom to share their concerns without fear of judgement or retribution.
311 Intelligence
What this means for your leadership team
Finance is a target for attackers.
The session looked at threats from the CFO's office and at behavioural and social engineering techniques. These attacks work on people as much as on systems. A leadership team should treat training and technical controls as one plan.
Fake content and quantum change trust.
Synthetic content and deepfakes make it harder to know who is really asking for something. Quantum computing may also crack the majority of today's encryption. Industrial products, digital twins and meta twins would then carry new exposure.
Culture decides how early you see problems.
A Chatham House culture lets employees raise concerns without fear of judgement or retribution. Staff who feel safe speaking up give you early warning. That is cheaper than finding a breach after the event.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
Who in our finance team could be fooled by a convincing fake request?
Which of our products depend on encryption that quantum computing could break?
Do our people feel safe reporting a mistake or a concern?
The trends and technologies behind this session
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
It shows that security is a people problem as well as a technical one. Finance offices face social engineering and fake content, and industrial firms face quantum risk to their products. Training, culture and technical defence need to work together.
How does synthetic content relate to finance security?
The session named synthetic content and deepfakes as future threats. Convincing fake voices, images or video can be used to pressure staff into acting. Finance teams should plan how they will verify requests.
How does quantum computing relate to industrial products?
The ability to crack the majority of today's encryption would affect industrial automation products and services. That includes digital and meta twins. Leaders should know where their products rely on current encryption.
How do quantum safe encryption deadlines relate to this?
Governments are setting deadlines to replace today's encryption with quantum-resistant methods. That gives organisations a reason to audit their encryption now, before the risk discussed in the session becomes real.
How can 311 brief our leadership team on this?
311 offers a private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector, in person first.
Bring this to your leadership teamA private executive briefing or leadership workshop, tailored to your sector. In person first, anywhere in the world.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s session and 311 data.
If Matthew gave this session today
Organised crime grows despite huge pressure from governments.
The codex examines the techniques organised crime groups use to grow despite huge competitive pressure from governments, the same industry Matthew showed ABB's finance teams how to defend against.
