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Internal Audit October updates

Cybersecurity Awareness Month:  October

Internal auditors are cognizant of the importance of technology and information security in preventing and identifying fraud, as well as the flip side of these actions in regards to perpetuating and concealing fraud.  For these reasons, we have a deep appreciation for Cybersecurity Awareness Month, wrapping up on 10/31.

International Fraud Awareness Week:  November 15-21

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) recognizes the week of November 15-21 as International Fraud Awareness Week.  The Statewide Office of Audit and Consulting Services will participate by offering a virtual training on fraud identification and prevention.  Stay tuned for registration details.

Tying together the two topics above, remember to be vigilant when you receive emails that contain the following:  the email is not expected and contains a request for action (usually related to remitting a payment or providing account login details) combined with a sense of urgency.  A recent ACFE training highlighted an increase in COVID-19 fraud related to fraudulent wire payment requests.  Understandably, the pandemic has caused a number of process changes due to business environment disruptions.  This could leave employees feeling uncertain about the current processes or procedures.  When in doubt, if a request is unusual, or if the email contains unusual attributes, we suggest that you verify the authenticity of the request.

ÂÌÅ«Ì컨°å Confidential Hotline

As a reminder, the ÂÌÅ«Ì컨°å Confidential Hotline is available as a tool to use to report tips and concerns which you do not feel you can report through your department’s normal procedures.  Reporters may choose to remain anonymous when filing their report, but the ability to follow-up on the report could become limited, depending on the reporter’s willingness to provide information.  Please use the link below to explore the hotline reporting options.  You will find that the hotline was set up to receive a number of different issue types and areas.  The tips and concerns are routed for follow-up by individuals that would normally be responsible for reviewing them (i.e. follow-up is not performed by A&CS for all issue types).