Watch out! Your Construction business might be under a cyber attack

Lately, risk experts have talked more about cyber risks. One important thing that I've recently heard from one of these experts is that cyber risk is not an IT department matter only, but it should be a strategic concern. What about cyber risks in the Construction industry?

The Construction Industry has experienced an increase in the use of digital tools during the last years. The COVID-19 pandemic has also pushed their adoption and virtual collaboration with people working from their homes. The 2019 Aon Global Risk Management Survey Report shows that the completion of cyber risk assessment in the Construction industry raised from 36% in 2017 to 43% in 2019. It has a lot of room for improvement, and the increase in digitalization and virtual work increases the exposure to cyber risks. So, how prepared is your organization to avoid, mitigate, and respond to cyber-attacks? Can you imagine the BIM model of a strategic project being hacked? Are people in your organization aware of the potential of cyber attacks? I have personal experience with it. Around two years ago, I received an e-mail from the VP of a construction company in the U.S. The message had a sort of a professional invitation, but at the same time, the structure and language of the message sounded weird. I decided to check with the sender, and he/she answered me that he/she was hacked! He/she was the VP of a construction company, so you probably can imagine how many people got the same message and maybe clicked on the phishing message spreading the issue.

Yes, cyber attacks are escalating. We need to be aware of it and include them in our risk management strategies.

What do you think about cyber risks in the Construction industry? Share your thoughts, experience, and opinions. Please, keep the organization's name private.

Links:

• The rise of cybersecurity risk in the construction industry: http://constructionexec.com/article/the-rise-of-cybersecurity-risk-in-the-construction-industry?utm_campaign=5b841cafae&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ce_this_week&utm_content=volume_3_issue_38&utm_term&mc_unique_id=d0e71a1f10&aid=7675
• Construction cybercrime is on the rise: https://www.enr.com/articles/46832-construction-cybercrime-is-on-the-rise
• Cyber Risk News & Trends with Tony Anscombe (part 1): https://rimscast.libsyn.com/cyber-risk-news-trends-with-tony-anscombe?tdest_id=780864
• Cyber Risk News & Trends with Tony Anscombe (part 2): https://rimscast.libsyn.com/cyberrisk-news-trends-with-tony-anscombe-part-2?tdest_id=780864

#cyberrisk #cyberattack #constructionindustry #risk #riskmanagement #construction

Rethinking Supply Chains in a Post-Pandemic World

Rethinking Supply Chains in a Post-Pandemic World [Construction Executive]

Do you assess the third-party risk in your supply chain? The third-party risk has gained increased attention lately, and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, many industries are rethinking their supply chains, including the construction industry. A construction project usually involves many suppliers, and some of them are critical to the project. For example, think about the suppliers of the long-lead items and the specialty trader contractors. Therefore, construction companies need to plan and evaluate the potential third-party risks during and post-COVID through a third-party risk assessment to protect the projects as much as possible.

Do a quick web search by "supply chain risk and third-party risk" and "third-party risk assessment," and you will get some material to read.

Quoting from the article:

"Post COVID-19, the most crucial supply chain risk management strategies include an in-depth assessment of every part of the supply chain using a risk-based supplier evaluation process."

"The right technology and real-time data can provide insights to mitigate potential supply chain risk in the future..."

#riskmanagement #thirdpartyrisk #supplychainrisk #thirdpartyriskassessment

New technology in construction and the associated risks - unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones)

Make Certain Drone Policies Also Manage Risk: Conformity with FAA regulations is just the start to a robust and legally compliant drone program. Contractors also need a risk management program that addresses prevention and mitigation.

I'm a big fan of new technology in construction, and it is a topic that attracts my attention and curiosity. At the same time, we need to understand the risks (threats and opportunities) that new technology can bring to our projects. We need to investigate the risk impact of new technology on project performance and prepare the organization to manage these risks. This article reflects this idea, in this case, with the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS or drones) in construction. Although this article mentions the U.S. regulations, construction firms in other countries need to be aware of the local regulations about UAS usage.

From the article, "Construction executives must deploy a tailored and full risk management program covering its UAS usage. Such a program should comport with all applicable federal, state and local laws and regulations, be consistent with the owner's UAS policy, be an evolving policy which requires proper training of the UAS team and reflect the rapidly changing regulatory framework and operational guidelines."

#riskmanagement #newtechnology #drones

Bê á Bá Gerenciamento de Riscos com Claudia Garrido

Building Strong Risk Committee Relationships [Risk Management Magazine by Neil Hodge]

Building Strong Risk Committee Relationships

http://www.rmmagazine.com/2020/10/01/building-strong-risk-committee-relationships/

This article can give us useful insights on how to leverage the risk management practice inside an organization. Risk managers need to collaborate with the board and the departments, and they need to align risk management with the organization's goals and strategy. They also need to develop a positive outlook and do their homework to support their ideas. #riskmanagement

The construction environment during the COVID-19 pandemic - two sides of the same coin

Originally published on Jun 29, 2020, on https://sites.google.com/view/claudiagarrido/home

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/construction-environment-during-covid-19-pandemic-two-garrido/

(Jun 29, 2020) During the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction environment has experienced two opposite approaches. At one extreme, accelerated projects to repurpose buildings into hospitals, or building new ones to respond to the urgent need of treatment units. On the other extreme, current projects or new construction projects will need to be completely replanned, making the duration longer.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the need to have more hospital beds to patients' treatment. Cities have responded in some ways to fulfill this need, such as repurposing existing facilities, erecting temporary medical facilities, or building new ones in accelerated ways. The repurposing of existing facilities included, for example, the transformation of convention centers and hotels. Examples of convention centers transformed into care units have happened in New York City, Chicago, Miami Beach, and Washington, DC. Hotels have also been converted into healthcare facilities. These transformations and conversions are occurring fast. For instance, a hotel conversion in St. Louis (M.O., USA) took less than 100 hours.

The erection of temporary medical facilities and the construction of new ones in accelerated ways have also taken place. In Paramus (N.J., USA), a temporary medical facility was built in two weeks to support the main hospital building. Cities in Brazil have also adopted the alternative to building temporary medical facilities or "campaign hospitals" through public or private ventures. Last, new medical facilities have occurred using modular or prefab construction. The first ones seen were the two hospitals in the Chinese city of Wuhan. A modular medical facility was erected in Brazil, expanding to the M'boi Mirim hospital in Sao Paulo. A total of 44 modules were built offsite and assembled in 11 days. Large contractors in the U.S. are now also offering prefab modular systems for health screenings.

However, while the COVID-19 pandemic has driven the acceleration of some construction projects, it also causes the need to replan others. Construction projects underway need now to consider other health and safety precautions, including social distancing, meaning that activities must be replanned to avoid people working on top of each other, and sanitation routines. Low degrees of activity overlapping, or no overlapping, and different shifts may be adopted. Technology has also helped to mitigate some of the issues, such as the performance of remote inspections by video. In the end, while some contractors are trying to recover the delay caused by the pandemic, many projects will be delayed.

While construction is experiencing opposite approaches during this pandemic period, there is no doubt that lessons have been learned. For example, some contractors may now embrace modular or prefab construction. Remote inspections might come to stay, and remote collaborating work might now not be so threatening to many. The pandemic disruption may also be an opportunity to reflect on current practices and a moment for a change.