The NOUV Link - Issue 3

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link Issue 3 | July 2022

Tuning organisations to Excellence

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Welcome Message from Mark

NOUV’s New Values As my welcome message to this new edition of the NOUV Link, I first thought of taking stock of the various initiatives we have started, held and finalised during the first six months of this year.

But before that, I want to reconfirm how this quarterly news bulletin is proving essential to showcase the sterling work this firm is delivering and how it is keeping NOUV’s stakeholders up to date with the firm’s journey.

• Soft launch of NOUV Private Client , read more on page 8).

I am glad to say that with our collective effort, the firm is on track with this year’s budget. I feel an overwhelming sense of satisfaction, knowing that our hard work is leaving its mark! So, I thank you all and I remind you to always work hard but to also play hard, whatever that takes.

Values are important to any organisation because they help define who we are, how we operate, what we stand for and how we want others to see us.

They also keep us aligned to our business purpose, keeps everyone aligned towards the same goals and attract like-minded new people to our organisation.

We have also been busy planting the seeds for the following year through some interesting developments namely: • Signing an agreement with a Cypriot firm representing NOUV in Cyprus.

• Strengthening our sustainability team and offerings.

• Engaging the first foreign-based employee.

• Attending Sigma Dubai & ICE London.

• Participating at the TGS Global annual conference in Berlin.

• Purchasing nouv.com hence all the firm’s domains will now be .com • Quarterly AML update sessions.

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I would also like to thank you for taking part in our internal “Values” survey.

Below are the highest-voted values that were then put together and realigned to the ideal representation of NOUV. • • • • • • • • • •

Teamwork (11 votes) Vision (8 votes) Adaptability (6 votes) Ambition (6 votes) Quality (5 votes) Transparency (5 votes) Passion (4 votes) Growth (4 votes) Hard work (4 votes) Challenge (4 votes)

The survey contained a list of over sixty values from which we had to select and adapt five values that

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best represented the firm. And based on the survey results, we can now confirm that our company values will be: Visionary Adaptable Talented Accessible Driven This brings me to a crucial point: What we stand for today.

We are in this profession to genuinely leave a positive impact on people’s lives by helping their businesses and by tuning their organisations to excellence.

These values must be emphasised, upheld, and modelled first and foremost by the firm’s senior management. As NOUV’s leaders, we must be the first to set the example. Only then will these values become less conceptual and more relatable to the rest of the team.

Putting these five values into practice can only make us stronger!

Thank You Mark A. Aquilina Founder and Chief Visionary Officer

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Business Pillars CONSULTING: Shape your future with a winning strategy, improve resilience, transform & drive sustainable growth with the adequate funding.

Service type: Corporate finance and strategy

36N Capital

Service type: Business processes and operations

Tuning Fork

Service type: Regulatory

NOUV Corporate

Service type: Financial management

NOUV Advisory

Service type: Governance, risk and compliance

GetGovernanz

Service type: Financial audit

NOUV Audit

PRIVATE CLIENT: Protect, preserve, and grow your wealth. Ensure that your family assets are structured adequately to facilitate the transfer across generations.

Service type: Family Solutions High Net Worth Individuals Solutions Fund Services

NOUV Private Client

TECHNOLOGY: Utilise innovative software solutions to help you navigate throughout your business journey.

Service type: Software development and represent products

NOUV Technology

LEARNING ACADEMY: Organisations need to revisit their training strategy to retain top talent.

Service type: Full range of classroom and online courses

Tuning Fork

CORPORATE: Know your business and stay on top of the regulatory requirements.

AUDIT AND RISK ASSURANCE: Create a sound business through good governance practices, adequate internal controls & accurate financial data.

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By Jeanine Sladden Business Advisor and Head of the Training Hub at Tuning Fork Advisory

Employees Are Happy At NOUV, But Willing To Grow More Internal surveys organised on an occasional basis at NOUV are proving to be very helpful for the company’s management to gauge how our employees feel about certain aspects within the company.

These internal surveys are turning out to be an excellent opportunity for us to reach out to each other.

They are not only a means by which we let each other know how we are relating to the workplace, but they give us a good snapshot of how people at NOUV feel and what they’d like to see improved.

The latest of these internal surveys was conducted very recently to understand if employees are receiving enough opportunities for training.

At NOUV, we want our people to grow, and we want them to know it. Training is important for the company because we operate in a very dynamic and competitive sector which requires us to always be at the top of our game. So, we decided to conduct an internal survey on the training opportunities at NOUV to make sure that when it comes to professional training, we are meeting our people’s expectations.

The first and very important question asked was ‘Are you happy in your current role?’ And all the 26 respondents of this survey answered positively.

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Asked if there is an appropriate training plan in place for them and whether enough time is allocated for training and selfdevelopment, more than two-thirds of respondents said yes. However, around 30% feel that more can be done.

Another question related to whether employees are striving to move into another role at NOUV. 61.5% said no but 38.5% said yes. We think this is positive on both fronts. On one hand, it is nice knowing that a good majority are happy in their role, however, that a good portion are showing an inclination to move, means

that they are eager to learn more and that NOUV offers enough opportunities for employees to want to widen their experience.

As company founder, Mark Aquilina expressed his satisfaction at the outcomes of this small internal survey. “Obviously it will always be very satisfying to see that our people are happy here.

But we have taken note of the fact that more needs to be done to make sure that all employees feel they can grow in their role here at NOUV. We do not want to offer just a job. We want NOUV to be a breeding space for top quality professionals in our sector,” he said.

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By Andrew Naudi

NOUV Attends SIGMA Dubai Event Between the 20th and the 22nd of March, NOUV was present at the SiGMA Dubai conference whose theme dealt mainly with blockchain, DLT, NFT and general Web3.0. ANDREW NAUDI and ANDRE STIVALA who attended the event, share their experience and observations.

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“The SiGMA event hosted in Malta is usually focused primarily on the iGaming industry but the event in Dubai dealt mostly with technologies that are mostly related to blockchain, DLT, NFT and Crypto. Therefore, considering Dubai’s cautious approach on iGaming activity, we were pleasantly surprised at the turnout of both exhibitors and attendees,” points out Andrew.

“The conference itself was not as big as other SiGMA conferences, but it was not small either and the impeccable organisation made it easy for participants to meet and network. In fact, although the actual conference usually ran between 0900 and 1700 each day, our days were kept fully occupied with the actual conference, with meetings and other events,” added Andre.

“Being there was made even more interesting by having had the opportunity to establish several interesting contacts,” continues Andrew.

“If I had to mention two in particular these would be the CEO of the Blockchain Centre in Dubai with whom we have started discussions on the possibility of project managing two major blockchain implementations in Dubai with large multi-national organizations, and the CEO of the national lottery service provider in Dubai, with whom we have already been engaged for a couple of projects.”

Andre noted that SiGMA Dubai focused a lot on eSports. “eSports are without a doubt the fastest growing sports right now and

having already entered the gambling market, this segment is surely bound to dominate even further once the current younger generation reaches the age when it will be allowed to indulge in gambling. And as one would expect, in conjunction with eSports, SiGMA Dubai also included a

“I cannot help but think that Malta too has the potential to become more attractive for this segment.

It could start with an update of the legislation and by hosting more events beyond SiGMA, purposely to welcome and promote this particularly sought-after segment,” added Andrew.

heavy element of NFTs such as the purchase of NFT assets for horse racing.”

Finally, a couple of personal hints on how to approach such events when attending.

Both Andre and Andrew confirmed how this event turned out to be an amazing experience which they most definitely want to revisit.

The ‘musts’? It depends mostly on the objectives and the outcomes desired. From our end, we did a lot of pre-planning and research on who was going to attending and exhibiting. This is always an especially important thing to do not only because it helps a better understanding of the objectives but being prepared helps you cut a better impression for more meaningful connections.

“If I had to mention two in particular these would be the CEO of the Blockchain Centre in Dubai with whom we have started discussions on the possibility of project managing two major blockchain implementations in Dubai with large multi-national organizations, and the CEO of the national lottery service provider in Dubai, with whom we have already been engaged for a couple of projects.”

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NOUV Attends ICE London Between the 12th and 14th of April, Daniel Bilocca and Andre Stivala attended ICE London.

“After nearly two non-eventful years due to Covid, everyone had been really looking forward to ICE London and in fact, we felt that the chosen theme ‘Together Never Felt So Good’ could not have been more well-chosen,” said Daniel upon his return.

“Everyone was yearning to meet and connect again, the anticipation was palpable and for us especially, it was a very meaningful event because we go to meet with a lot of our clients and business colleagues face to face after more than two years of remote meeting,” added Andre.

ICE London featured a very wide mix of attendees and stakeholders from the gaming sector, including affiliates, banks, authorities, merchandising suppliers and marketing companies.

“For NOUV, attending ICE London was very rewarding. In fact, we

have managed to establish a strong contact with one of the four leading Curaçao Gaming licensees and have already initiated a process so that NOUV becomes a B2B accredited provider on AML for their clients.

We have also established a relationship with the Kahnawake gaming commission and additional contacts from the banking sector,” they added.

the attendees at ICE London are already present in Malta where this sector has grown so much. This is why events like these will always remind us of how important it is to safeguard Malta’s gaming sector for the benefit of Malta’s economy.”

Daniel and Andre’s conclusion following this event was that being present at ICE London turned out to be not only important to identify potential business opportunities but also on a networking level due to the very wide spectrum of attendees.

“When it comes to gaming, ICE London will always be a great platform to attract new business to Malta, even though it made us proud to note that around 80% of

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New Employees

Karl Tonna 36N Capital and NOUV Private Client

Karl joined NOUV very recently to assist in the setting up of NOUV Private Client and to assist 36N Capital in International Mergers and Acquisitions transactions.

He resides in Donegal, Ireland, which he describes as “one of the most beautiful places on Earth.”

In his role, he will lead the NOUV Private Client, which is still in its infancy and a brand that will focus on protecting, preserving, and growing Private individuals’ wealth to ensure their family assets are structured adequately to facilitate the transfer across generations. NOUV Private Client will also offer fund structuring solutions. Furthermore, Karl will assist 36N Capital in gaining traction in International Mergers and Acquisitions transactions by matching high-quality international business opportunities to the right investors and identifying and negotiating with target businesses, potential acquirers, or joint ventures.

“I have worked for over 15 years in asset management,

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focusing on credit, private debt and more recently leading an Asset Management Company in Malta.

So, through my experience, I will be assisting clients structure their private wealth, advising on various fund solutions and best practices in corporate governance.”

In work, Karl seeks to get results, broaden his network, and assists clients in everything they need but then, he also describes himself as ‘a very laid-back person who loves the simple things in life.’

“Living in Donegal at the very northern most point of Ireland, helps and I usually spend the weekend with my wife and children, visiting any one of over 200 beaches overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. I also enjoy the occasional visit to the local pub of course! I consider myself a rugby addict and I enjoy travelling in fact my dream trip is a safari in Kenya.”

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New Employees

Wendy Blanco Tuning Fork

Wendy is an Industrial Engineer with a certification as internal Auditor for the standards ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001:2013 and enjoys experience in the implementation of QMS and working with the integrated management systems.

“At Tuning Fork Advisory my role will be in the performance pillar team as Business Advisor, and I am really looking forward to this opportunity where I am sure to be learning something new every day. I feel that facing everyday challenges helps us become better versions of ourselves as we handle and solve any situation,” says Wendy.

Her first impressions of working at NOUV are already positive and she has described all the team as “having been very friendly and displaying a very powerful energy.”

“Everyone is so willing to share their knowledge and experience and to bring their support which helps me a lot in the process to adapt to this new challenge. At NOUV, I not only found a team but a family where everyone helps

each other. I am very happy to be part of this organisation!”

Wendy lives in Swieqi and in her leisure time, she likes to relax by practising her drawing and painting. Cooking is also one of her hobbies especially Colombian food.

The weekends are spent visiting new places with her friends.

“I have quite a long bucket list but three specific things that I would like to do is visit Thailand to hug and bathe with an elephant, enjoy the sunset in one of the tallest buildings in Dubai and visit all the new seven Wonders of the World.”

“I believe that in life, it is very important to believe in oneself with heart and passion. I also feel that being grateful is important if we wish to continue receiving blessings in life.”

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New Employees

Mathias Florin Cilia Tuning Fork

Mathias joins NOUV fresh from the University of Malta having obtained his master’s degree in Science in Natural Environmental and Resources Management, with a focus on marine pollution.

His role will be with Tuning Fork as a Business Advisor focusing mainly on organisational health and safety maintenance and ISO 45001 implementation.

His first impression of NOUV as a company once he joined, was a positive one.

“When I started working here, I was struck by how different this firm is from other companies in terms of professionality, friendliness, and the transparency with which it operates. Knowing that I work in the environmental sector while helping companies adopt new methods which will aid their environmental performance is what will be motivating me in this role,” he said.

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Mathias hails from Qormi recently has moved to Paola. His hobbies are quite varied – from playing football and computer video games to baking and occasionally tinkering with his car. “During any typical weekend, you will either find me relaxing at home watching a movie or going out for long walks and socialising with friends.”

Interestingly, Mathias seems to be one who does what he preaches because one of the items on his bucket list is to fully restore his car to mint condition and eventually converting the engine into an electric one!

“I like to think of myself as an easygoing person who enjoys helping people, but I won’t shy away from a good joke or two!” he adds.

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New Employees

Andrea Navarra Tuning Fork

Andrea comes from Italy, but his background is a very different one to what one would expect.

In fact, Andrea graduated as a nurse in 2014 in Italy and has worked in various hospitals run by the NHS in the UK starting in Manchester, Southend on Sea and, other healthcare centres in London.

In 2018 Andrea moved to the Netherlands where he worked in both public and private health care till September 2021 when he moved to Malta.

“I had been contemplating a change in my career for quite some time and since I always loved nature and the environment, I decided to study something related to sustainability. Currently in fact, I am working on my final thesis for my MSc course in “Green Economy” at Bournemouth University in the UK.”

At Tuning Fork, Andrea will be working within the Green Core group, assisting companies to focus on ways how to reduce their environmental impact.

nationalities of people living here.

I think that such a small country with many cultures all living together makes Malta so unique,” he added.

“Working here at NOUV and Tuning Fork feels great. I have had a very friendly and warm introduction and the working environment is amazing. I love how at NOUV, so many different disciplines interact together,” remarked Andrea.

Andrea’s main sport is road cycling, but he is also into swimming and diving, but he also loves books especially when it is raining. And when it comes to food, he obviously enjoys the Mediterranean cuisine, but he admits that he is a vegetarian!

Andrea’s motivation comes from knowing that his work, which he really enjoys, will be contributing to a better society and to our environment.

“In Malta, I like the fact that there are lots of activities and sports that can be practised as well as a lot of social events. There is a great vibe thanks to the many different

“I like eating anything which is done properly and besides Mediterranean food, I also like Indian, Thai and Vietnamese cuisine as well as North African dishes.”

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By Franco Bartolo Senior Manager, Advisory

Focus On An Established Employee Having joined NOUV in 2014, Franco Bartolo today can easily be regarded as one of the firm’s veterans. In fact, when he joined, he recalls that at the office, there was only Mark and Tonio as the two partners and another two employees. And that’s including himself!

How did you come in contact with NOUV? I can say that Tonio was my connection. At the time, I was working at the Seabank Group as a Financial Controller and Tonio was the Group’s CFO. I had been working there for around 13 years and I felt it was time for a change.

I remember I was toying with the idea of becoming a freelancer and

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being quite close to Tonio, I decided to call him for some advice only to find out that he had just gone into partnership with Mark and set up NOUV. So, what happened then?

Well, basically NOUV had just moved to their St. Julian’s office and seeing that I was interested

in joining, Tonio invited me for a chat at the office to discuss matters further and after that, he promised he would discuss the possibility of my employment with Mark. But he gave me no more details and it stopped there.

A couple of weeks later, we met again for a coffee, and we agreed my employment terms which we jotted down on a napkin!

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Today, your role is that of Director Financial Management.

What does your role entail?

My job today is primarily managing the Financial Management Team.

In all, we are a team of eleven composed of myself, one senior manager, three senior accountants and six junior accountants. But besides managing this growing dynamic team, I also get to meet a lot with our clients to discuss their respective business needs.

What would be the main challenges in your role?

I think that one of my main challenges is understanding our clients’ needs. Not because it is hard to understand them but given how every business faces different challenges during business cycles, the challenge is pre-empting how clients’ needs could change as well. Obviously, it goes without saying how the past two years in particular, proved to be very challenging for many businesses who suddenly found themselves having to re-engineer most of their working practices during and after the pandemic. This was very challenging because it was an unpreceded experience that no one ever expected.

What gives you most satisfaction in your job?

Of course, I think that one of the biggest satisfactions I drive from my work is the fact that we tangibly help businesses grow. Luckily, some grow enough to the point that they would be in a position to employ their own full-time accountant, but we still retain our services as business consultants and independent advisors. I feel this is important because given the vast portfolio we have a wider view of the sector, and we can assist clients to think more outside the box.

that extra mile to tailor our services to meet the individual business needs.

What are the challenges being faced by your sector and what in your opinion should be done to take the sector to the next level?

Unfortunately, even though there have been massive improvements in standards, not all those who advertise their ‘accountancy services’ are totally up to standard.

Unfortunately, our services are often seen as a necessary evil, and when competition boils down to a matter of price, it becomes very tough to uphold certain standards.

Today we have managed to rise above this aspect because clients know that we go beyond the traditional service offer.

the office so that the client is never left unattended. But we understand the importance of a work/life balance. Having employees with burn out benefits no one.

What is your current and ideal work/life balance? What measures do you take to control the work/life balance of you and your employees?

Striking a balance is not simple.

Mobile phones and e-mails have made it very difficult for us to switch off when we really need to.

We try to work as a team as much as possible and we cover for those who would happen to be away from

What in your opinion, are the qualities that make a good leader?

I believe that a good leader is the one who makes his team members feel valued and helps them excel in what they do best. Matching personal traits to a particular client’s culture and needs is of utmost importance so a good leader is one who knows how to do this as well.

Education – Mellieħa Primary School, Tal-Ħandaq Junior Lyceum and Paolino Vassallo Banking School in Paola.

Married? Children? Residence? Married to Marika Bartolo since 2008 and have a 10-year-old son, Matteo and we reside in Mellieħa.

Hobbies, pastimes? Right now, not much time for hobbies but I like teasing Tonio.

Your favourite place in Malta – Home Your favourite food? Pizza and pasta Music? I listen to most types of music, depending on the mood!

What in your opinion makes NOUV different from other firms?

What differentiates us is the fact that we do not offer ‘off-the-shelf’ accountancy services. That would be the easiest thing to do but we believe that we are very able to go

Sport? Not very active, but my favourite sport remains football.

Your ideal type of weekend – Time with family and friends.

A memorable trip I love travelling and I do my best to make sure that our trips are memorable. However, I would say that my first visit to Turin to watch Juventus was one to remember.

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By James Sammut Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer

More Growth For Tuning Fork’s Team Over the past six months, Tuning Fork’s highperformance team has been complemented by new employees namely Wendy Blanco as Business Advisor in the performance pillar team as well as Mathias Florin Cilia and Andrea Navarra within the Sustainability pillar.

Furthermore, due to ongoing growth trends, a new person will be joining the Performance team in July.

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“Our proposition is not only attracting new business towards Tuning Fork and NOUV, but also interesting new talent and therefore, it is with pleasure that we welcome our joiners with a renewed sense of enthusiasm,” says Ing. James Sammut, Chief Sustainability Officer, Tuning Fork.

technologies. On a wider scale, sustainable development practices help countries grow in ways that adapt to the challenges posed by climate change which will in turn help to protect important natural resources without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

“However, this is an exciting time for us all at Tuning Fork not only because our team is growing but also because Tuning Fork is playing a prominent role in the growth of our parent company NOUV. In fact, this year, the commitment by both NOUV and Tuning Fork is towards further consolidation in preparation for future growth,” he added.

“This is what we do at Tuning Fork; as the management consulting arm of NOUV. We leverage our trust, experience, and capability to service our clients under five main pillars namely Information Security, Food Safety, Sustainability, Human Capital, and Business Performance Optimisation. For those organisations who approach us, we seek to achieve tactical and operational optimisation of organisations by enhancing processes and developing people using environmentally friendly strategies, secure infrastructure (cyber or otherwise) and safe work practices,” added James.

“But growth and consolidation cannot happen without a sustainable approach, and this is why we want to see that NOUV’s business practices are not only economically and socially sustainable but also environmentally so. For this to happen in an effective manner, it is crucial for everyone at NOUV to understand what sustainable development is - simply because it is pointless advising our clients to operate more sustainably if we are not fully conversant with what sustainability is all about.”

Technically speaking, sustainable development encourages us to conserve and enhance our resource base by gradually changing the ways in which we develop and use

Tuning Fork’s ultimate goal remains that of delivering value.

“We like to say that we foster genuine business relationships, but this might sound a bit too over simplistic. What we do in essence is that we hand-hold clients to resolve their specific challenges, so we optimise and transform their businesses effectively. In fact, we do not offer pre-set solutions. Our preferred approach is to meet with the client, understand their

“We like to say that we foster genuine business relationships, but this might sound a bit too over simplistic. What we do in essence is that we hand-hold clients to resolve their specific challenges, so we optimise and transform their businesses effectively. In fact, we do not offer pre-set solutions. Our preferred approach is to meet with the client, understand their needs and together launch and deliver an effective plan of action to transform the organisation’s operations. We have experience (over 20 years) and extremely satisfied customers from all industry and sectors.”

needs and together launch and deliver an effective plan of action to transform the organisation’s operations. We have experience (over 20 years) and extremely satisfied customers from all industry and sectors.”

James argues that to prosper, a business needs to do things properly.

“When a business operation is sustainable, it can withstand changes it may face in the future so what we do is that we optimise processes, we help organisations become compliant with legal requirements and we help them achieve best-in-class standard of operation. Having said that, the recognition of the importance and relentlessness of development remains a key issue in sustainable development, and this is only achieved when any development that takes place is balanced between society, economy, and the environment.”

Tuning Fork is composed of a team of engineers (environmental, electric, and mechanical), health & safety specialists, energy advisors, scientists and management graduates unified to provide sustainable value-adding solutions to businesses.

“When organisations embrace a system that engages people’s capabilities and implement structure and reporting, any crucial decisions taken will always be effective because they would be based on sound data and information.”

“Ultimately it is all about bringing disruption through effective awareness of the consequences of climate change. At Tuning Fork, we encourage companies to drive cultural change through a committed approach by senior management and by establishing targets and programmes that lead to operational improvements,” concluded James Sammut.

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By Andre Stivala Senior Manager, Cyber Security and Resilience

Cyber Life after Cyber COVID, did anything really change?

Go ahead, take the risk! It gives the rest of us something to laugh at and learn from.

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The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for organisations as restrictions forced employees to work from home. “Typically, new challenges bring change, and change brings opportunities. But as a consequence of COVID-19, change also brought cyber risks and very few organisations were prepared for those risks.

Most still do not provide a ‘cyber-safe’ remote-working environment,” says ANDRE STIVALA Senior Manager, Cyber Security at NOUV

A vast number of organisations do not consider the eventuality of threats materialising, even those that identified the threat of a pandemic. Therefore, a lot of organisations did not have mechanisms in place to allow operations to continue functioning securely while working remotely.

Instead, system administrators had no other choice other than to resort to last minute system configurations, like a VPN, in infrastructures that were just not ready for it.

The cyber threat landscape is constantly evolving in order to take advantage of online behaviours and trends. When COVID-19 struck, and the world was forced to work remotely, the cyber threat landscape took an interesting turn.

According to INTERPOL, there has been an increase of domains registered with the key words ‘COVID’ or ‘corona’, to take advantage of the growing number of people searching for information about COVID-19. Palo Alto Networks shows that many of these are considered to be developed with malicious intent – researchers analysed 1.2 million newly observed hostnames (NOH) containing keywords related to the COVID-19 pandemic from March 9, 2020 to April 26, 2020 (7 weeks). 86,600+ fully qualified domain names are classified as “high-risk” or “malicious”, spread across various regions. On average, 1,767 high-

risk or malicious COVID-19 themed domains are created every day.

when compared to enterprise grade security.

Cybercriminals are creating fake websites related to COVID-19 to entice victims into opening malicious attachments or clicking phishing links, resulting in identity impersonation or illegal access to personal accounts.

Threat actors are exploiting vulnerabilities of systems, networks, and applications used by businesses, governments and schools to support staff who are now working remotely. As the growing number of people relying on online tools overburdens the security measures put in place prior to the virus outbreak, attackers search for more chances of exposure to steal data, make a profit or cause disruption.

Trend Micro, a cyber security product provider, also showed that COVID-19 is still being used as bait in email spam attacks on targets around the globe. They reported that nearly one million spam messages have links to COVID-19 since January 2020!

Vulnerabilities resulting from COVID-19 changes [of working from home].

Top management made systems administrators re-configure systems that exposed vulnerabilities. PCs were purchased after the lockdown restrictions that could not be configured prior to handover to employees; managed IT services companies were overloaded with requests and could not manage the load; data originally stored on local on-premise servers were transferred to newly purchased cloud services as on-prem networks’ goodput couldn’t manage; home internet users with weak bandwidth suffered with communication issues in a time where communication was critical, and regardless of bandwidth – home internet security is poor

According to the council of Europe there is evidence that malicious actors are exploiting these vulnerabilities to their own advantage. Some examples they reported included ransomware, attacks against critical infrastructures or international organisations, ransomware targeting mobile phones, fraud schemes, misinformation and fake news.

Increased cyber-security

The increase in remote working calls for a greater focus on cybersecurity, because of the greater exposure to cyber risk.

This is apparent from the fact that 62% of security professionals reported that phishing campaigns were the most increased security threats during the COVID-19 crisis, according to Microsoft’s ‘New Future of Work Report’.

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And as technology’s rate of evolution roughly doubles each year and each technological improvement created the next stronger generation of technology at an even faster rate, so does the need for security.

An easy solution is cloud computing. Although cloud computing is by no means 100% secure (as nothing can be 100% secure), it is most likely a safer and cheaper option than maintaining your local on-prem infrastructure.

This is because data centres and cloud service providers have larger dedicated teams with greater resources to tackle cyber-attacks and ensure security.

No shame in admitting you need help What would be shameful is if organisations refused to accept the fact that their cyber security needs to be a top priority to their organisation. To accept change due to grieving symptoms.

Now is the time to act and defend your organisation!

Many have started working from the office. But this does not mean that catering for a remote-working environment must be overlooked especially when working from home is still a reality. Therefore, efforts must be stepped up by: • Keeping your information safe • Implementing an information security management system (ISMS).

• Conforming to internationally recognised InfoSec/CyberSec standards and certifications.

• Backing up all your important files, and store them independently from your system.

• Always verifying that the websites you visit are legitimate.

• Not sharing login credentials on any site you come across.

• Checking software and systems.

• Ensuring your mobile devices follow the same policies that your enterprise devices follow.

• Securing email gateways to detect and respond to spam and training employees to identify phishing attacks.

• Strengthening your employees’ home networks as they process your company’s data.

• Reviewing third-party or outdated components, implementing controls to mitigate those risks and changing what needs to be changed.

• Downloading mobile applications and software from trusted platforms only.

• Performing regular health and vulnerability scans on all devices across your network.

• Be vigilant • Updating your passwords regularly and ensuring they are strong.

In any case, when a cyber security breach happens, here are the 5 stages of cyber grief: DENIAL – Your company still believes that it cannot be attacked and its data cannot be breached.

ANGER – You think you’re secure, but your users, consisting of employees and contractors, have access to your systems, so you’re only as secure as they are.

Slowly but surely, an uncomfortable reality starts dawning.

BARGAINING – In search of answers, your InfoSec industry leading professionals all tell you to consider implementing an ISMS and to purchase products that help you monitor and maintain your systems or to consider migrating to cloud computing. You ask for quotes but you keep taking it easy.

DEPRESSION – Another breach hits the news and one of your product vendors, of which risks you did not assess, proudly announces the breach was a data leak. You realise that their data leak was your data leak.

ACCEPTANCE – The next morning you realise and accept that you jave been hacked. And you do what you should have done in the first place.

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News 36N Capital Helps Electrofix Secure Acquisition of Arjakon 36N Capital’s team led by Luke Cann recently assisted our clients Electrofix Group, a leading Maltese company specialised in renewable energy products in the completion of an important corporate acquisition.

Cyprus Firm Deal Our mission at NOUV is to keep growing the way we already are.

However, for these last few years, our ambition was also to exploit the right opportunity to export our brand and all that we represent, to the international front.

This dream has now started becoming a reality as NOUV just signed an agreement with EPIMONI, a boutique firm of practitioners based in Cyprus who will be representing NOUV’s interests in this interesting market and promoting NOUV with the business community in Cyprus.

EPIMONI is run by Ing. Godfrey Attard and Cypriot lawyer Miltiades J. Violares. Through this newly reached collaboration, EPIMONI will be promoting a range of NOUV services in Cyprus, organising meetings and taking on business development initiatives.

We are very sure that this news makes you all proud as much as it makes NOUV’s management proud!

Electrofix Group in fact has acquired Arjakon Ltd, a leading importer and distributor of air-conditioning and solar water heating solutions in Malta. Arjakon’s roots go back to 1966, when the concept of air conditioning in was still in its infancy and today, the company has evolved into a professional and specialist operator in the sector.

This acquisition by Electrofix Group represents a crucial milestone in our client’s journey. These business transactions can be very delicate and this acquisition in particular was no exception. At NOUV however, we are extremely proud of how 36N Capital, through its advisory capabilities assisted our client throughout every stage of this process.

For Your Diary - 29th July – An Outlook Of The First 6 Months On Friday the 29th of July, NOUV will be convening everyone to what has now become a yearly summer appointment.

During this event, we will take a short look of what the first six months of this year have looked like, what we have achieved, how we are growing and what our next targets are.

More importantly however, it will be an opportunity for us all to meet in an informal setting where we shall get to know each other a bit better and enjoy each other’s company over some good food and drinks. I think by then, we will all need it!

So please keep Friday 29th July free from any meetings and personal engagements so that we can make this another successful event for everyone at NOUV.

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