Conficker threatens to wreak havoc

A computer virus that has been spreading around the world for months is set to come alive today, states Times Online.

Microsoft has offered $25 000 for information about Conficker's creator. An alliance of leading computer security experts and Internet governance groups has been set up to help deal with the problem.

Experts have struggled to tackle it and do not know who controls it or why it was created. But today the virus, dubbed Conficker, will “call home” to its creator to seek new instructions.

Debate over prevailing standards of corporate governance in India has gained stridency in the last couple of months in the wake of fraud dealings in Satyam, says The Hindu Business Line.

Nasscom, the premier trade body and the voice of the Indian IT/BPO industry, quickly reacted by saying that it will be forming a Corporate Governance and Ethics Committee, chaired by Mr Narayana Murthy, chief mentor of Infosys.

Stock market regulator Sebi also announced it would examine whether there was a need to tweak existing regulations to enhance, compliance, transparency and efficiency in the corporate system.

List Group, a financial technology provider, is working with risk management experts across the globe to deliver more sophisticated operational risk analysis software, as regulators prepare to adopt stricter capital adequacy requirements, reports PR-inside.

List's governance risk and compliance (GRC) management software suite, GRC Evolution, has powerful calculation engines and can support varied and complex risk management methodologies and models to provide quantitative views of risk.

Alessandro Casali, List Group's director of GRC, comments: “Operational risks such as fraud, non-compliance of regulations and acts of terrorism are responsible for some of the biggest losses in the financial services sector. To reduce the potential impact of these risks we are drawing on the experience of risk management experts and combining this with List's flexible analysis software.”