1,721,007 research outputs found
A second order cybernetics approach to the deconstruction of risk in the domain of anti money laundering
Full text linkThis research examines the application of the risk-based approach (RBA) in the context of anti-money laundering (AML) and explores how it drives risk interpretation and deconstruction within relevant AML stakeholders.Review of existing literature indicates that the majority of studies deliver descriptive and typological assessments of existing AML frameworks. The belief that the RBA supports institutions in their risk management is unquestioned throughout the industry. Yet the interpretation and application of the RBA impacts the way risk is perceived, represented and handled, resulting in a misalignment between stakeholders. In addition, there is no assessment of whether the RBA generates additional ML risk.To address the above, a cross-case study was conducted within two FIUs with data collection carried out primarily through semistructured interviews of key AML experts within both organisations and through reviewing relevant documentation and data. In addition, complementary semistructured interviews were conducted with risk practitioners within the banking and regulatory industries.This interpretive research is grounded in Luhmann’s systems theoretical treatise on risk (Luhmann, 1993) and can be positioned in the tradition of second-order cybernetics. The theory also informs data collection. The research identifies that AML practitioners interpret ML risk as an entity that can be contained, largely unaware that ML risk is interdependent on risk, essentially self-referential and autopoietic. Furthermore, this research shows that the RBA fails to capture the complex phenomena of feedback and irritation across systems that result in de-risking, which, in turn, leads to re-risking. Such phenomena are inevitable and should be facilitated to enable systems to minimise their own complexity. On this basis, this research proposes a new ML risk communication framework that is informed by Luhmann’s risk model and enhanced by the concepts of risk bearer and translation code introduced in this research
An information systems security framework for the e-Government Programme of Jordan
No full textAny e-government programme provides e-services as one of the most important means by which the interaction between citizens, businesses and governments takes place. This has brought great opportunities but also raises serious cybersecurity challenges. Critical information assets are facing various potential security risks and threats. Information systems security is necessary to mitigate those risks and threats that are faced by the e-government programme and to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the available e-services. In light of the above, the aim of this study is to examine how information security is managed and approached within e-government programmes and the case study of the Ministry of ICT in Jordan informs that aim. The study deconstructs information security through the Technical/Formal/Informal (TFI) framework and enriches that framework by customising it for e-government, expanding it also to include citizens’ online trust. To achieve this aim, a qualitative investigation of the Jordanian e-government programme was conducted by following the research design of a case study in the interpretivist tradition. Furthermore, a survey was used as a complementary phase to examine citizens’ perspectives on e-government security. By combining, analysing and reflecting on the empirical data, a consolidated information security framework was developed for different security aspects, based on the TFI model (technical, formal and informal). The dissertation contributes to the knowledge domain at the intersection of e-government and cybersecurity both practically and theoretically, focusing on technical aspects and non-technical aspects as well. The proposed framework provides an overview of the TFI-categorised elements that can help governments reflect on and manage the security challenges of their corresponding e-government programmes
Technology as an observing system : a 2nd order cybernetics approach
Full text linkThe role of technology in modern society is becoming fundamental to society itself as the boundary between technological utilization and technological interference narrows. Technology penetrates the core of an ever-increasing number of application domains. It exerts considerable influence over institutions, often in subtle ways that cannot be fully understood, and the effects of which, cannot be easily demarcated. Also, the ever-expanding ecosystem of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) results in an emergent complexity with unpredictable consequences. Over the past decades this has created a tension that has led to a heated debate concerning the relationship between the technical and the social. Some theorists subsume the technical into the social, others proclaim its domination, others its autonomy, while yet others suggest that it is a derivative of the social. Starting with Luhmann’s remark that technology determines what we observe and what we do not observe, this paper takes the approach that infers there are multiple benefits by looking into how Systems Theory can provide a coherent theoretical platform upon which these interactions can be further explored. It provides a theoretical treatise that examines the conditions through which the systemic nature of technology can be inspected. Also, the paper raises a series of questions that probe the nature of technological interference in other ‘function-systems’ of society (such as the economy, science, politics, etc). To achieve this goal, a 2nd order cybernetics approach is employed (mostly influenced by the works of Niklas Luhmann), in order to both investigate and delineate the impact of technology as system. Toward that end, a variety of influences of Information Systems (IS) are used as examples, opening the door to a complexity that emerges out of the interaction of technology with its socio-economic and political context. The paper describes technology as an observing system within the context of 2nd order cybernetics, and looks into what could be the different possibilities for a binary code for that system. Finally, the paper presents a framework that synthesizes relevant systems theoretical concepts in the context of the systemic character of technology
A second order cybernetics approach to the deconstruction of risk in the domain of anti money laundering
No full textThis research examines the application of the risk-based approach (RBA) in the context of anti-money laundering (AML) and explores how it drives risk interpretation and deconstruction within relevant AML stakeholders.Review of existing literature indicates that the majority of studies deliver descriptive and typological assessments of existing AML frameworks. The belief that the RBA supports institutions in their risk management is unquestioned throughout the industry. Yet the interpretation and application of the RBA impacts the way risk is perceived, represented and handled, resulting in a misalignment between stakeholders. In addition, there is no assessment of whether the RBA generates additional ML risk.To address the above, a cross-case study was conducted within two FIUs with data collection carried out primarily through semistructured interviews of key AML experts within both organisations and through reviewing relevant documentation and data. In addition, complementary semistructured interviews were conducted with risk practitioners within the banking and regulatory industries.This interpretive research is grounded in Luhmann’s systems theoretical treatise on risk (Luhmann, 1993) and can be positioned in the tradition of second-order cybernetics. The theory also informs data collection. The research identifies that AML practitioners interpret ML risk as an entity that can be contained, largely unaware that ML risk is interdependent on risk, essentially self-referential and autopoietic. Furthermore, this research shows that the RBA fails to capture the complex phenomena of feedback and irritation across systems that result in de-risking, which, in turn, leads to re-risking. Such phenomena are inevitable and should be facilitated to enable systems to minimise their own complexity. On this basis, this research proposes a new ML risk communication framework that is informed by Luhmann’s risk model and enhanced by the concepts of risk bearer and translation code introduced in this research
The Regulation of Crypto-assets for Anti-Money Laundering: A Socio-technical Systems View of Ireland’s Financial Intelligence Unit
No full textThis research explores the duality of crypto-assets, acknowledging their obvious benefits to society while at the same time recognising their susceptibility to criminal exploitation, especially regarding cybercrime and in facilitating the laundering of the proceeds of crime. It focuses on Ireland, where legislation regulating crypto-assets for the purposes of Anti-money Laundering (AML) was first introduced in 2021. The research analyses suspicious transaction reports (STRs) submitted to the Irish Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU Ireland) by private-sector Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) who identified customer activity indicative of (crypto-) money laundering. Through a comprehensive approach encompassing a thorough review of literature, industry reports, legislation, interviews, and focus groups with experts, along with the examination of 2,719 crypto-asset related STRs received by the FIU in 2021, this study contributes a customised socio-technical conceptual framework of both the phenomenon studied (crypto-laundering) as well as its detection by industry and the FIU. This framework aids in organising the intricate dynamics of crypto-laundering and provides valuable insights for global FIUs and reporting entities in elevating the quality of their STR identification, reporting, and analysis. The contributions made by this research can be adapted and have universal application to other domains and disciplines
An information systems security framework for the e-Government Programme of Jordan
Full text linkAny e-government programme provides e-services as one of the most important means by which the interaction between citizens, businesses and governments takes place. This has brought great opportunities but also raises serious cybersecurity challenges. Critical information assets are facing various potential security risks and threats. Information systems security is necessary to mitigate those risks and threats that are faced by the e-government programme and to safeguard the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the available e-services. In light of the above, the aim of this study is to examine how information security is managed and approached within e-government programmes and the case study of the Ministry of ICT in Jordan informs that aim. The study deconstructs information security through the Technical/Formal/Informal (TFI) framework and enriches that framework by customising it for e-government, expanding it also to include citizens’ online trust. To achieve this aim, a qualitative investigation of the Jordanian e-government programme was conducted by following the research design of a case study in the interpretivist tradition. Furthermore, a survey was used as a complementary phase to examine citizens’ perspectives on e-government security. By combining, analysing and reflecting on the empirical data, a consolidated information security framework was developed for different security aspects, based on the TFI model (technical, formal and informal). The dissertation contributes to the knowledge domain at the intersection of e-government and cybersecurity both practically and theoretically, focusing on technical aspects and non-technical aspects as well. The proposed framework provides an overview of the TFI-categorised elements that can help governments reflect on and manage the security challenges of their corresponding e-government programmes
The Regulation of Crypto-assets for Anti-Money Laundering: A Socio-technical Systems View of Ireland’s Financial Intelligence Unit
Full text linkThis research explores the duality of crypto-assets, acknowledging their obvious benefits to society while at the same time recognising their susceptibility to criminal exploitation, especially regarding cybercrime and in facilitating the laundering of the proceeds of crime. It focuses on Ireland, where legislation regulating crypto-assets for the purposes of Anti-money Laundering (AML) was first introduced in 2021. The research analyses suspicious transaction reports (STRs) submitted to the Irish Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU Ireland) by private-sector Money Laundering Reporting Officers (MLROs) who identified customer activity indicative of (crypto-) money laundering. Through a comprehensive approach encompassing a thorough review of literature, industry reports, legislation, interviews, and focus groups with experts, along with the examination of 2,719 crypto-asset related STRs received by the FIU in 2021, this study contributes a customised socio-technical conceptual framework of both the phenomenon studied (crypto-laundering) as well as its detection by industry and the FIU. This framework aids in organising the intricate dynamics of crypto-laundering and provides valuable insights for global FIUs and reporting entities in elevating the quality of their STR identification, reporting, and analysis. The contributions made by this research can be adapted and have universal application to other domains and disciplines
Online child sexual exploitation: a new MIS challenge
Full text link© 2021, Association for Information Systems. All rights reserved. This paper deals with the difficult yet increasingly important MIS phenomenon of online child sexual exploitation (online CSE). Through the use of secondary and publicly available data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as well as primary data from a cybercrime police unit in the United Kingdom, this study takes a grounded theory approach and organizes the role that technologies and social actors play in shaping online CSE. The paper contributes to IS theory by providing a consolidated model for online CSE, which we call the technology and imagery dimensions model. This model combines the staging of the phenomenon and the key dimensions that depict how the use of technology and imagery both fuels and defuses the phenomenon. In informing the construction of the model, the paper extracts, organizes, and generalizes the affordances of technology and discusses the role of information systems in detecting online CSE
Organised crime - the cyber dimension
Full text linkThis chapter reviews a few critical technological developments and reflects both on their trajectory and on the opportunities they harbour for novel forms of cyber-enabled criminality. While the future of organised crime remains forever out of grasp, primarily due to fundamental uncertainties created by the introduction of any new technology and the radical innovation that criminals exhibit, there are sensible aspects that we can consider and learn from. By taking examples from the dark web, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, this chapter puts forward several new research directions that reflect on the intersection between technology and organised crime. These must prompt researchers to design new studies and engage with novel scholarly explorations; as an academic community, we must consider the ways in which a deeper understanding of organised crime can emerge from how the adoption of new technologies can occur
Technology as an observing system : a 2nd order cybernetics approach
No full textThe role of technology in modern society is becoming fundamental to society itself as the boundary between technological utilization and technological interference narrows. Technology penetrates the core of an ever-increasing number of application domains. It exerts considerable influence over institutions, often in subtle ways that cannot be fully understood, and the effects of which, cannot be easily demarcated. Also, the ever-expanding ecosystem of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) results in an emergent complexity with unpredictable consequences. Over the past decades this has created a tension that has led to a heated debate concerning the relationship between the technical and the social. Some theorists subsume the technical into the social, others proclaim its domination, others its autonomy, while yet others suggest that it is a derivative of the social. Starting with Luhmann’s remark that technology determines what we observe and what we do not observe, this paper takes the approach that infers there are multiple benefits by looking into how Systems Theory can provide a coherent theoretical platform upon which these interactions can be further explored. It provides a theoretical treatise that examines the conditions through which the systemic nature of technology can be inspected. Also, the paper raises a series of questions that probe the nature of technological interference in other ‘function-systems’ of society (such as the economy, science, politics, etc). To achieve this goal, a 2nd order cybernetics approach is employed (mostly influenced by the works of Niklas Luhmann), in order to both investigate and delineate the impact of technology as system. Toward that end, a variety of influences of Information Systems (IS) are used as examples, opening the door to a complexity that emerges out of the interaction of technology with its socio-economic and political context. The paper describes technology as an observing system within the context of 2nd order cybernetics, and looks into what could be the different possibilities for a binary code for that system. Finally, the paper presents a framework that synthesizes relevant systems theoretical concepts in the context of the systemic character of technology
- …
