Extract from Cassandra Morrison’s article “eComms Surveillance 101”
A successful compliance strategy starts with knowing the rules and following them—whether those are defined by internal guidelines or regulatory requirements. While it’s not the only strategy in a compliance team’s toolbox, an important piece of the puzzle starts with surveillance and monitoring.
Unfortunately, the word “surveillance” sometimes brings up negative connotations: over-the-shoulder monitoring, tracking and recording—something like an Orwellian “big brother” or worse. But in many business sectors, surveillance is a necessary part of compliance work. (And usually it’s a lot less exciting than the spy-movie implications might make it seem.)
Unlike a surveillance system at home, surveillance strategies in financial institutions or commodity trading organizations rely heavily on detecting misconduct and stopping it as quickly as possible. What constitutes misconduct can range from money laundering to bribery, collusion, and insider trading.
Bottom line? The bad behaviors may vary, but the ways corporations detect it is largely the same: communications surveillance.
