Continuous Controls and SoD: Watchdogs Against Fraud and Regulatory Woes
With over 60% of South African organisations admitting that they’ve been the targets of economic crimes and fraud, enterprises must adopt a proactive stance to protect themselves. Robust strategies such as Segregation of Duties and Continuous Control are critical to effectively thwarting fraud attempts and ensuring adherence to regulatory standards.
With fraudsters continuously evolving their tactics and exploiting weaknesses, it’s crucial to stay ahead of the game. Shockingly, 34% of internal frauds are carried out by senior management, highlighting the pervasive nature of the threat.
Consider the case of a former accountant who siphoned off over R537 million through duplicated invoices over a staggering 13-year period. Similarly, a junior accountant orchestrated a complex fraud, amounting to R53 million, by creating and paying fictitious vendors over seven years. These instances underscore the importance of vigilance and proactive measures.
Continuous Controls
Gone are the days of annual audits and point-in-time assessments. Continuous controls offer real-time visibility into your financial systems and processes, akin to having security cameras recording every transaction.
This constant monitoring allows for:
- Early detection and prevention of fraud: Suspicious activities are identified and flagged in real-time, enabling swift intervention before significant damage occurs.
- Improved regulatory compliance: Continuous monitoring ensures adherence to financial regulations, reducing the risk of hefty fines and reputational damage.
- Enhanced operational efficiency: By automating control activities, organizations streamline processes and free up resources for other critical tasks.
Segregation of Duties
Segregation of Duties (SoD), on the other hand, reduces the risk of fraud by ensuring no single individual has unchecked control. By distributing critical tasks, such as creating and paying a new supplier, across different individuals, SoD makes it significantly harder for fraudsters to manipulate systems and data undetected.
Implementing these Controls with Pathlock
However, implementing these controls can be challenging, especially in multi-application environments. This is where solutions like Pathlock come into play.
Pathlock acts as a central nervous system, seamlessly integrating with various enterprise applications, providing a unified view of your control environment that allows you to ensure that new single user holds excessive power.
Pathlock’s magic lies in its ability to:
- Unify access control across disparate applications, eliminating the silos that traditional tools create. This holistic view empowers you to implement SoD effectively, ensuring no single user holds excessive power.
- Continuously monitor user activity and behaviour, detecting anomalies in real-time that might indicate fraudulent intent. Pathlock acts as your ever-watchful sentinel, alerting you to suspicious behaviour before it escalates into a full-blown breach.
- Automate access reviews and certifications, ensuring that user privileges remain aligned with their current roles and responsibilities. This continuous verification eliminates the risk of outdated permissions creating vulnerabilities.
By leveraging Pathlock, organizations can build a robust security posture that proactively addresses the challenges of multi-application environments. This translates to:
- Reduced risk of fraud: Proactive detection and prevention of fraudulent activities lead to fewer financial losses and reputational damage.
- Simplified compliance: Continuous monitoring ensures adherence to regulations, minimizing the risk of fines and penalties.
- Improved operational efficiency: Automated control testing and streamlined processes free up resources for strategic initiatives.
- Enhanced visibility and control: A centralized view of controls across all applications empowers informed decision-making.
Remember, static defences are no match for the ever-evolving threats of today’s digital world. Embrace the dynamic duo of continuous controls and SoD, and let Pathlock be your guide to delivering zero-risk, ensuring your organization thrives in the face of ever-present challenges.
This is not just an opinion; it’s a call to action. Read the Avoid Procurement Fraud eBook for more information, or contact us to set up a demo.