We are excited to be continuing to deliver our curriculum on the Language of Risk for ISC2, especially when it includes Charlotte, NC this week (Thursday, 3rd). If you haven’t already registered for this event, you can get the details through the ISC2 event page for the session.
Like all ISC2 events in their Security Leadership Series, this event is free to ISC2 members and is fantastic opportunity to connect with your peers from around the area.
Audits and Auditors, Defections
In a blow-by-blow rebuttal to Grant Thornton’s letter to the SEC last week, Overstock.com‘s Chairman & CEO, Patrick Byrne, laid it all out in a very public way via a press release. A bit on the ugly side, but a fascinating look inside the interaction between a board and their auditor. It has devolved into an outright pissing match (Henry Blodget‘s term) between the two companies, with both sides accusing the other of lying.
What is particularly alarming about this whole affair (other than the openness of the mudslinging), is the size of the drop in OSTK’s value on Friday the 30th. Gapping up on Monday the 23rd and hitting a high that day of $16.37, it has since given up over $2.00 in two sharp drops. The first was in the early hours of trading on Tuesday (from $16.18 to $15.50), after Mr. Byrne’s press release hit the wires. Just before the markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, OSTK was at $15.30. However, on Friday, the 27th, it opened down at $14.42 and has continued to hover below $14.50 today. Black Friday will forever mean something else within the walls of Overstock.com I suspect. All of this, despite their marketing engine churning out multiple releases regarding holiday promotions.
Perhaps airing your audit issues so openly, and through press releases, should be reconsidered as a strategy.
I recently had the pleasure of moderating the latest ISC2 ThinkT@nk as part of their Security Leadership Series. This event, sponsored by RSA, focused on the issue of choosing the proper strong authentication technology depending on the risk associated with the user scenario. A very interesting topic and one that garnered a great dialogue with the audience. An archive of the event can be found here: Proving Ground-The Many Flavors of Authentication.
Untitled from Rook Consulting on Vimeo.
JJ Thompson and I were fortuntate enough to interview Niall Browne, CISO at LiveOps and Chair of the Development Committee for BITS while we were at the Cornerstones of Trust conference in the Bay Area.
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