Has Charlie Hebdo changed terrorism risk management?
While the image of a defiant and unified France together with many world leaders shows solidarity in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris, questions have been raised about how the attacks will change risk management. Insurance companies as well as governments could be forced to re-evaluate the scale and risk of terrorist attacks according to the co-director of the risk center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton business school. Robert Meyer says that it would be a “gamechanger” if the attacks in Paris were found to be part of a larger group. The initial analysis that the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine was a targeted response to the publication of cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammed was then clouded by the additional attacks in Paris. Random attacks create a new level of risk and one that cannot be easily detected. Read the full story.
Obama and UK PM meet to discuss cyber security and terrorism
President Obama and UK Prime Minister David Cameron will meet this week at The White House and risk will be very much on the agenda. In light of the events in Paris terrorism will be discussed of course but already planned to be on the agenda before the attacks was the increasing risk of cyber attack. One of the UK’s security agencies, GCHQ, will publish a report titled ‘Common Cyber Attacks: Reducing the Impact’ later this week which will show the scale of the threats now facing businesses across the UK, but applies elsewhere too. The agency has recently identified a threat to the energy infrastructure with the potentially serious consequences. With the Sony attack still front-of-mind for the President the leaders will be keen to develop shared resources to counter the escalating risk.
UN risk team prepares for disaster conference
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction has published its draft program for the first disaster risk conference in a decade which takes place in Japan in March. There will be much to discuss from the lessons learnt from tsunamis and earthquakes to reducing the risk of pandemics such as Ebola. The last conference on this scale was held in 2005 and since then there have been many lessons learnt about managing the risk and mitigating the impact of disasters. See the draft program here.
