Regulation, information security among top concerns of executives

Computer security threats, an increase in regulatory requirements for financial services firms and concern from environmentalists over oil spills and hydraulic fracturing are among the top concerns of senior business executives who participated in a recent survey.

Consulting firm Protiviti Inc. released Tuesday Executive Perspectives on Top Risks for 2013, a report jointly prepared by Protiviti and the Poole College of Management at North Carolina State University.

“The survey sought the views of more than 200 board members and C-level executives across a wide variety of industries about the risks their organizations expect to face in 2013,” Protiviti stated in a press release. “Participants were asked to rate a list of 20 risk issues on a scale of one to 10, with one indicating ‘no impact’ and 10 indicating ‘extensive impact.’”

The No. 1 risk cited was regulatory changes and heightened regulatory scrutiny, which “may affect the manner in which our products or services will be produced or delivered.” That risk was scored an average of 6.8 on a scale of 1 to 10.

According to the report, executives were concerned about an “unprecedented” number of new regulatory requirements for financial institutions.

“Complicating the situation is a perceived lack of coordination among international regulatory bodies and significant shifts in the overall regulatory oversight framework,” the report states.

It analyzed specific industries and did not break out insurance specifically, but it did include comments on the energy and utilities sector.

The report noted the increased use of hydraulic fracturing technology to extract fuel from shale, scrutiny from oil spills and the “green movement” could “result in potential tightening of environmental regulations.”

Across all industries, tied at No. 6 on the list of concerns were cyber threats, which could disrupt core operations, and information security and privacy, which would require significant resources.

“Over the last two years, reports of cyber threats of unprecedented sophistication across multiple industries, resulting in the loss of intellectual property and business intelligence, have made the headlines,” according to the report. “Since it is unlikely that all breaches have been reported, the sheer number and magnitude of malicious attacks create a need to better understand the threats and develop proactive solutions to mitigate them.”

The report also cited cloud computing, social media and mobile computing as technologies that “present new challenges” for security and privacy.