SEC asks companies to disclose cyber attacks - is Telecom Fraud next

According to an article in today Reuters the SECasks companies to disclose cyber attacks set new guidelines on Thursday about cyber events that could lead to monetary losses.

U.S. securities regulators formally asked public companies for the first time to disclose cyber attacks against them, following a rash of high-profile Internet crimes. 

Senator John Rockefeller has asked the SEC to set guidelines related to losses due to security breaches.

"Intellectual property worth billions of dollars has been stolen by cyber criminals, and investors have been kept completely in the dark. This guidance changes everything," Rockefeller said in a statement.

"It will allow the market to evaluate companies in part based on their ability to keep their networks secure. We want an informed market and informed consumers, and this is how we do it," Rockefeller said in a statement.

Now as the SEC asks companies to disclose financial affecting cyber attacks, here is a question to ponder is telecom fraud next? It is almost entirely financial, and has the possibility of exposing intellectual property and customer information while by-passing normal cyber security procedures.

Consider for a minute, with more than $80 billion worth of telecom fraud happening each year, how long will it be before companies are required to disclose this to stockholders or the SEC?

What is the fiscal responsibility of a company’s management to protect and or disclose this risk to stockholders?

What are you doing to protect your company?

Proactive monitoring and active security are a must to protect companies from this kind of loss.

For suggestions on how you can protect your company please see my guest blog Telecom Fraud Is Alive & Kickin’ or visit the Humbug Labs site to sign up for analytics and Fraud Detection.