The impact of the general data protection regulation on the financial services’ industry of small European states

This paper is based on the unpublished Thesis by Magri, A. (2018). An Evaluation of the Impact of GDPR on the Local Financial Services Industry. Banking and Finance, Department of Banking and Finance, Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy, University of Malta, supervised by Dr. Simon GrimaPurpose: With this paper we evaluate the impact and implications of the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on the Financial Services Industry in small European States; specifically Malta, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Cyprus. That is, countries within the EU having less than 3 million population. Design/methodology/approach: We collected our primary data by carrying out scheduled semi-structured interviews (using WhatsApp®, Messenger® and Skype®) with 63 participants who are working directly or indirectly with GDPR in financial services between November 2018 and April 2019. The interview was structured using two impact themes, ‘Trust, Standardisation and Reputation’ and ‘Training and ‘Resources’, with 18 statements under each theme to which participants were required to answer using a 5-point Likert-scale ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree”. To answer the research questions, the empirical data collected was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS (Version 21) namely descriptive statistics and box plots and later MANOVA, while the qualitative data was analysed using the thematic approach. Findings: We found that overall, participants feel that although GDPR has increased the work load and costs, it has helped to improve the trust, standardisation and reputation of the institutions they represent. However, this comes with some repercussions from the data subjects who are not conversant with the regulation and are apprehensive by the consents required. Originality/value: Although, all States might be represented in the decision process, the larger States usually take over and sometimes dictate the final decision. The concept of proportionality in regulations is not clean and is not effectively managed, at the disadvantage of the smaller States. Therefore, this paper is important since it voices the cries of smaller States and allows for an understanding of the impact and implications of new regulations to smaller jurisdictions, in this case within the EU.peer-reviewe

Gamification techniques for raising cyber security awareness

Due to the prevalence of online services in modern society, such as internet banking and social media, it is important for users to have an understanding of basic security measures in order to keep themselves safe online. However, users often do not know how to make their online interactions secure, which demonstrates an educational need in this area. Gamification has grown in popularity in recent years and has been used to teach people about a range of subjects. This paper presents an exploratory study investigating the use of gamification techniques to educate average users about password security, with the aim of raising overall security awareness. To explore the impact of such techniques, a role-playing quiz application (RPG) was developed for the Android platform to educate users about password security. Results gained from the work highlightedthat users enjoyed learning via the use of the password application, and felt they benefitted from the inclusion of gamification techniques. Future work seeks to expand the prototype into a full solution, covering a range of security awareness issues

The last five years of Big Data Research in Economics, Econometrics and Finance: Identification and conceptual analysis

Today, the Big Data term has a multidimensional approach where five main characteristics stand out: volume, velocity, veracity, value and variety. It has changed from being an emerging theme to a growing research area. In this respect, this study analyses the literature on Big Data in the Economics, Econometrics and Finance field. To do that, 1.034 publications from 2015 to 2019 were evaluated using SciMAT as a bibliometric and network analysis software. SciMAT offers a complete approach of the field and evaluates the most cited and productive authors, countries and subject areas related to Big Data. Lastly, a science map is performed to understand the intellectual structure and the main research lines (themes)

Is the responsibilization of the cyber security risk reasonable and judicious?

Cyber criminals appear to be plying their trade without much hindrance. Home computer users are particularly vulnerable to attack by an increasingly sophisticated and globally dispersed hacker group. The smartphone era has exacerbated the situation, offering hackers even more attack surfaces to exploit. It might not be entirely coincidental that cyber crime has mushroomed in parallel with governments pursuing a neoliberalist agenda. This agenda has a strong drive towards individualizing risk i.e. advising citizens how to take care of themselves, and then leaving them to face the consequences if they choose not to follow the advice. In effect, citizens are “responsibilized .” Whereas responsibilization is effective for some risks, the responsibilization of cyber security is, we believe, contributing to the global success of cyber attacks. There is, consequently, a case to be made for governments taking a more active role than the mere provision of advice, which is the case in many countries. We conclude with a concrete proposal for a risk regulation regime that would more effectively mitigate and ameliorate cyber risk

Agenda for change: strategic choices for the next government

The next government has a primary requirement to be well briefed on the challenges inherent in Australia’s strategic circumstances and the policy options available to it. ASPI is publishing this report to layout our strategic choices and to provide recommendations. Contributors are Peter Jennings on strategic policy, Mark Thomson and Andrew Davies on defence, Anthony Bergin and Kristy Bryden on homeland security, Russell Trood on foreign policy and Ryan Stokes on economic security. This body of ideas makes a compelling contribution to the discussions which ought always to characterise the Australian strategic and defence debate