IP Audit & Fraud Report V1: Ohio Case Study: Non-Compliance with Safety & Soundness Regulations on Preventing Intellectual Property Asset Fraud, Phishing and Identity Theft per Federal Regulations.

Many banks, credit unions and their Board of Directors are failing to safeguard their intellectual property (IP) per federal regulations and this is contributing to the rapid growth of online identity theft and related cyber crimes. To reverse these trends, a new paradigm is needed, based on current regulations, to address 14 systemic risks. No new regulations are required. What is needed is leadership by Intellectual Property owners and their Board of Directors to safeguard their IP and consumer privacy per regulations and metrics that measure risk tolerance levels, established by the Board, to operational risks and operational losses associated with Identity Theft and Consumer Privacy. Cyber criminals are using bank brands or confusingly similar domain names within IP Asset Frauds to launch downstream federal and state crimes, i.e., email spam, sub domain names, fake web sites and phishing attacks against consumers and IT systems resulting in record identity theft risks. Matching resources to enemy tactics and increasing ownership levels of confusingly similar domain names for a brand from an average of 7% to 99.5% will minimize IP Asset Frauds and related downstream attacks and losses and risks for banks and their consumers. An action plan, set of tactics and metrics to measure progress in correcting 14 systemic risks is presented in the initial IP Audit and Fraud Report.

Risk factors driving the research and related recommendations include:

· Federal statistics from the FTC and FINCEN for Identity Theft, nationally, and in Ohio.
· Federal and state regulations on safeguarding intellectual property.
· 12 Operational Loss events and 11 Operational Risks per Basel on Identity Theft, fiduciary responsibilities, and privacy and disclosure statements.
· Open source statistics on national, regional, state and individual bank exposure to IP Asset Frauds.

This initial report is based on intellectual property operational risks for 91 banks and credit unions headquartered in the mid west and south, with a special focus on Ohio. This is the first in a series of state-based reports. Lessons learned can be applied globally.

“I call on CEO’s to fight this 13 year-old cancer, IP Asset Fraud, that is attacking the lifeblood of our online business, our customers, with our brands and evolving techniques that penetrate our immune or IT system. This cancer can be cured if we address it proactively at the Board/CEO level.” John E. Bowen, President and CEO, River Valley Credit Union (RVCU), Miamisburg, Ohio. RVCU is a model case study as it now owns 99.5% of confusingly similar domain names and has earned an “A” Online Brand Rating from the IP Governance Task Force.

“The Online Brand Rating system provides a business reasonable approach to identifying at risk IP assets and a streamlining remediation. As awareness grows, it will be an easy way to demonstrate due diligence and promote good will around rated brands.” Bryan Fite, author of a SANS Institute paper on corporate identity theft.

Members of the IP Governance Task Force are available to assist in this initiative. The Task Force was formed in 2006 as a multi-disciplinary team of IP professionals providing a coordinated, independent, and end-to-end IP Governance solution for public and private organizations with management, education, advisory, legal, data-mining, verification, remediation, insurance, rating services and board reports. Members include industry thought-leaders from auditing, legal, and technology companies.

Visit www.ipauditreport.com for IP Audit and Fraud Report V1.

http://ipgovernance.com
http://onlinebrandrating.com

Contact Information

Beckwith B. Miller

President

IP Governance Task Force

Contact via E-mail