Anti-money laundering for law firms

EU AML legislation requires law firms to conduct client due diligence before they are allowed to advise their clients. Firms are also required to keep such information up to date. 

Some firms are still conducting client due diligence (CDD) via lengthy Word, PDF and Excel forms. Entries are then stored in spreadsheets, making it difficult to keep track of such reports, ensure correct courses of action are taken, update details and ensure any red flags are either resolved or escalated. Spreadsheets are limited by their two-dimensional nature, lack of automation tools and lack of security. 

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Cyber awareness knowledge checks

Cyber awareness knowledge checks are assessments designed to test individuals’ understanding of cybersecurity concepts and best practices. These knowledge checks cover topics such as password security, phishing awareness, data protection, safe browsing habits, and recognising potential cyber threats. These checks play a crucial role in promoting cybersecurity awareness and improving overall cyber habits to mitigate the risk of cyber attacks and data breaches.

VinciWorks’ cyber awareness training knowledge checks

Cyber security vigilance is more relevant than ever now with many staff working from home. VinciWorks has released four new short courses to help organisations test their staff’s cyber security knowledge. Knowledge checks consist of different scenarios to help employees understand which course of action to take in different situations. Feedback is given after each question is answered, allowing users to improve their knowledge while completing the assessment. A score is given at the end of each assessment, meaning users can easily establish how much they have yet to learn. We recommend knowledge checks are added to existing cyber security training plans as a refresher course.

The knowledge checks cover several areas of cyber security, including the basics, passwords, social engineering, and phishing.

Cyber security training knowledge checks

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Our interactive phishing challenges test users’ ability to spot red flags in emails

Cyber security is the number one threat to businesses and criminals are nothing if not innovators. In the first half of 2020, for example, cyber attackers were sending 1.5 million malicious emails per day related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Investing in firewalls and encryption software is only part of the solution. It must be paired with staff training to have even a remote chance of being effective. Human error still causes most cyber breaches, and no amount of expensive software or outsourced IT security specialists can be a substitute for effective ongoing training.

Cyber security training is most effective when delivered in short, micro-learning modules and users retain the information best when it is relevant to their individual circumstances and level of expertise. Just as we may not need to teach IT professionals about password protection, HR staff don’t need to know the technical specifications of the business’ firewall.

VinciWorks has created a full suite of cyber security courses. We recommend integrating the training into a year-long cyber security training plan. The advanced plan is most relevant for those who have not taken in-depth cyber security training before and lack basic knowledge and understanding of cyber security risks and how to mitigate them. The standard plan is relevant for all other staff.

We suggest two cyber awareness training plans. These training plans are examples; our team can work with you to help create the training plan that works best for your organisation.

Cyber security training plan

Cyber training is most effective when delivered in short, micro-learning modules and users retain the information best when it is relevant to their individual circumstances and level of expertise. We may not need to teach IT professionals about password protection, just as the average staff member doesn’t need to know the technical specifications of the business’ firewall.

Cyber Security: Journey to Safety is the latest addition to our comprehensive cyber awareness training suite. The training takes course building and personalisation to the next level. Using our new builder, you can dynamically configure the training to cover topics relevant to your organisation. The builder can be used multiple times to create different courses for different job roles, or micro-courses for a cyber awareness drip campaign. All of this configuration happens instantaneously, with live previews of the results.

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To help businesses keep track of updates in UK legislation and policies, VinciWorks regularly publishes a regulatory update. Our regulatory agenda for September covers the latest COVID-19 government guidance, EU developments, acts of Parliament, bills before Parliament, open consultations and more.

What’s new this month?

New rules from the EU on the terms and conditions for online platforms such as Amazon, eBay and Google have been adopted, and will also apply in the UK. Particularly beneficial to SME’s, the new rules mean contracts between sellers and the platform must be clear and intelligible and sets out various standards for contracts including information on ranking, relisting and data access.

Although not legislation, the ICO has released a new statutory code aimed at organisations designing online or app-based tools which use or analyse the data of under-18s. The Age Appropriate Design Code has a 12-month transition period but applies to all companies offering services to UK users.

Download Regulatory Agenda

A quick news search will reveal how prevalent and widespread conflicts of interest in the workplace are, affecting every industry and not sparing any corner of the globe. Sometimes, conflicts may be minor and prove to be innocuous, but often, conflicts pose a serious threat that could seriously undermine an organisation’s reputation and future, and even have legal implications. VinciWorks has released a short knowledge check as part of its new course “Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace” to help organizations test their staff’s knowledge of conflicts of interest in the workplace, including how to spot conflicts of interest and helping staff understand the influence of their actions. Knowledge checks include a review of terms and concepts as well as scenario questions to help employees understand which course of action to take in different situations. We recommend knowledge checks be used alongside the new full-length Conflicts of Interest in the Workplace compliance course.

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Register for our DAC6 email updates

On Wednesday, 9 September, 2020, around 200 people joined VinciWorks for its fourth DAC6 Core Group meeting. This was a continuation of our third core group meeting held at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s London office earlier in 2020. In light of COVID-19, this fourth meeting was held virtually; however, audience participation was encouraged and this was not “just another webinar”.

VinciWorks have close relationships with various tax authorities across the EU, and we were joined at our meeting by James Marshall from HMRC, and Valérie Robbertz and Willem-Jan van Veen from the Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA).

Below is an overview of some of the key questions that were discussed in the meeting.

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The estimated cost of mental ill-health to UK employers each year is between £33 billion and £42 billion, totalling around 91 million lost working days. Two-thirds of UK CEOs considered the mental health of their employees as a priority, but only 16% had a defined strategy in place to help them. VinciWorks has released a short knowledge check to compliment its award-nominated course, Mental Health: Wellbeing at Work, to help organisations test their staff’s knowledge of mental health issues and their applications at work, including giving users an understanding of some of the causes of stress at work, what can happen when problems are not dealt with, and how employers can help.

The knowledge check includes a review of terms and concepts as well as scenario questions to help employees understand which course of action to take in different situations. We recommend the knowledge check be used alongside the full-length Mental Health: Wellbeing at Work course. Widespread staff training can help shift the culture to one that’s open to talking and helping, thus helping shatter taboos that are too often prevalent when it comes to mental health.

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The DSE Regulations require that employers provide their staff with a suitable workstation, as well as taking steps to protect them from the risks of working with display screen equipment. Using DSE (i.e. PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones) for extended periods or using them incorrectly can result in fatigue, eye strain, upper limb problems, back and neck problems, repetitive strain injury, stress, headaches and more.

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Lloyds bank fined - news article
Lloyds bank are just one of several businesses to receive huge fines for failing to act responsibly

FCA investigators have clearly not been furloughed

In 2019, the FCA registered nearly £400 million in fines for compliance breaches, and despite the pandemic, investigators are striking out high and fast against non-compliance. In the first half of 2020, only four cases have resulted in a fine, but collectively those fines have already reached £100 million.

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