12 January 2010

Systems Engineering: Adaptive Processes...

The Operational Risks associated with the insider threat of fraud, terrorism, intellectual property theft and economic espionage are a moving target. This variation, deviation and migration from traditional methods of criminal activity has much to do with our systems orientation and reliance on trusted information. Until you miss one step in a process or misspell someone's name.

Systems Engineering as a discipline has it's roots in understanding the business problem before designing a remedy or tool to solve the issue at hand. Whether the engineering is business oriented or software focused the combined "Convergent Engineering" has the goal of being adaptive, flexible and on a trajectory for an integrated discipline.

Adaptive Systems have the opportunity to assist in the mitigation of risks yet software information systems continue to plague us because they are still not being developed in concert with the changing business processes. This operational risk has been in existence since the emergence of computers. The solution to this problem and the "Holy Grail" is to engineer the business or government and it's supporting software as a single, integrated system. Convergent engineering involves modeling and designing the business directly in software. This has been advocated and written about since the 1990's by David A. Taylor, "Business Engineerig with Object Technology" and others advocating concurrent engineering.

The failure of processes during our Global War on Terror is an operational risk that all too often is in the audit, testing and scenario exercises. The Washington Post highlights the breakdown in the Christmas Day 2009 "Under Pants" Bombing attempt on NW 253:

Back in November, it was a day or two after the initial Visa Viper report was received at the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) before analysts there realized the correct spelling of Abdulmutallab's name, based on data from other agencies. With the error corrected, he was listed, along with about 400,000 others, on the Terrorist Identities Datamark Environment (TIDE). That is a list of people, along with relevant information about them, who are suspected of, or known to be associated with, terrorist activities outside the United States.

At that time, NCTC analysts who worked on TIDE entries processed only nominations from the State Department, the CIA and other collection agencies. They checked the TIDE list to see if a name was on it, but they did not search other databases for more information. The NCTC also determined what further action, if any, was necessary, such as moving a person's name to the next level, the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center.

Meanwhile, back at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, State Department officials -- "out of curiosity" -- did check to see whether Abdulmutallab had a visa for entry into the United States, according to a department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is under investigation. But because the misspelled name was used, the fact that Abdulmutallab had a multi-entrance, two-year tourist visa obtained in June 2008 was not sent to the NCTC or to other intelligence agencies.

As Crowley put it last week, "The initial search to determine if there was a visa did not -- one did not show, expressly because of this misspelling."

"This is a critical lesson learned," Crowley said. "The steps that we've put in the process beginning immediately after December 25 will, in fact, make sure that future reports do have visa information in them, so that this is . . . inserted into the process right from the outset."


The process is now adapting to the exposure of a vulnerability that could be exploited by the attacker to the system as it was designed. Could the same be said for the unfortunate incident soon thereafter on FOB Chapman in Afghanistan five days later. This breakdown again by the Washington Post brings this point into focus on the "Process Failure."


Those at the scene on Dec. 30 had been trying to strike a balance between respect for their informant -- best demonstrated, in the regional tradition, by direct personal contact -- and caution, illustrated by the attentiveness of the security guards, according to CIA officials.

But more than a dozen current and former government officials interviewed for this article said they could not account in full for what they called a breach of operational security at the base in Afghanistan's Khost province. Advance pat-downs and other precautions are common in an age of suicide bombers, and meetings are kept small and remote. None of these sources would agree to be identified by name, in many cases because of their former or current work as covert operatives.


The continuous diligence in the discipline of Operational Risk Management calls for an "All Threats & All Hazards" vigilance. However, in both of the previously mentioned cases all of the attention to process and protocols would not have overcome the larger factor of human psychology and human emotions. These Human Factors will continue to be the systems engineers worst nightmare and the single vulnerability that will never be totally mitigated.

Whether signs and red flags are missed in government or the private sector, the threat to our workplace, institutions and livelihood is at stake. ABB, a Swiss global infrastructure company is dealing with a workplace violence incident in St. Louis, MO USA and is now asking themselves "Who Knew What When":

The man widely identified as the gunman in a fatal shooting spree at a St. Louis industrial plant was described as an amicable family man and good neighbor, who would rake an elder's leaves and bring him holiday treats.

But 51-year-old Timothy Hendron of Webster Groves, a St. Louis suburb, was unhappy at work, according to those who knew him even casually, and embroiled in a pension dispute with his company that was being litigated this week in U.S. District Court in Kansas City.

Police said the gunman showed up at ABB Group's plant in north St. Louis around 6:30 a.m. Thursday and opened fire, killing three people and wounding five before apparently killing himself. Frightened co-workers scrambled into closets and to the snow-covered roof for safety.

He was found dead inside the plant from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.


Systems engineering for business or government must continue to explore the human factors. Adaptive processes and software that has been designed with "Adaptive" abilities will continue to challenge even the smartest and most capable Operational Risk Managers for years to come.

05 January 2010

Deja Vu: Operational Risk in Decade Past...

The WWW is dynamic and the operational risks you take while navigating it's vast depth and breadth is part of the process. Who or what should you trust? As an example, at this very moment when you search Google for Operational Risk Management it returns this blog as the number #1 top link. Perhaps that is how you arrived here at this blog on Operational Risk.

You trusted Google that when you clicked on the link that you would find relevant information on your desired topic. Or perhaps you navigated to this site devoted to Operational Risk Management because one of the almost 1,000 postings since 2003 covered your question, topic or issue. In both cases, the information returned may have relevancy but only after careful examination of the words, concepts, ideas and arguments do you make the decision on whether to "Bookmark" this site.

And for the many that have bookmarked us or added us as your RSS Feed then we know who you are. Our mutual quest for the relevancy of "Operational Risk Management" in the current world we live in will continue. With each new incident, accident, or breach our purpose is further defined and more extensively documented.

As we encounter 2010 and the next decade we promise to provide the content you require and the relevancy to your role in the profession. Let's go back in time for a minute and see if any of our previous posts over the past 7 years have a point today:

28 October 2003

More banks hit by email fraud


U.S. Issues Saudi Alert Saying Terrorists Targeting Airlines


24 February 2004


Greenspan: Curb Fannie, Freddie Growth


24 June 2005

Negative Stock Price Reaction to Announcements of Operational Loss Events...


31 December 2006

Remember His Name: The Long War Ahead...


24 May 2007

Hedge Funds: Crystal Ball on Regulation...


11 October 2007

Fear: The Elements of Prediction...


31 March 2008

Volatility: Enemy #1...


08 May 2008

Legal Ecosystem: Survival of the Fittest...


22 September 2008

Decision Advantage: OPS Risk Intel...


25 April 2009

Human Factors: Early-Warning System...


17 August 2009

Business Resilience: Beyond Readiness...


Are you having a deja vu moment? A flashback to the future. Why is it that "lessons learned" are continuously ignored? Forgotten. Lost. History and the knowledge of that history can save you. Some use log analysis of their precious computing resources, firewalls and IDS/IPS systems to learn from the past. Others don't remember that last time they fell down the stairs, slipped on the ice or banged their head. Even those individuals who have been on the other side of the desk when the "Boss" is making their position "Extremely Clear" about their performance measures are subject to having a deja vu moment.

Operational Risk is a daily and continuous 24x7x365 process. A way of life. Not an event or a meeting at the end of the quarter. Each person and stakeholder at your organization or institution is responsible for it and should live each day embracing it. We like to say, Operational Risk Management saves lives, protects corporate assets and enables global enterprise business resilience. That's something everyone can remember, practice and strive for every waking moment and in every situation.

What do you think?