Click here to access subscription content at The RTJ Bridge - The Premium Version of The RiskTech Journal
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Click here to access subscription content at The RTJ Bridge - The Premium Version of The RiskTech Journal 〰️
The RiskTech Journal
The RiskTech Journal is your premier source for insights on cutting-edge risk management technologies. We deliver expert analysis, industry trends, and practical solutions to help professionals stay ahead in an ever-changing risk landscape. Join us to explore the innovations shaping the future of risk management.
Inside the Hack: Why Social Engineering Exposes the Limits of Cyber Defense and Demands Integrated Risk Management
The recent cyberattack on Marks & Spencer (M&S), perpetrated by the notorious hacking group Scattered Spider, vividly underscores the evolving sophistication of cyber threats—and the alarming vulnerability of even well-protected enterprises. Despite significant investments in cybersecurity defenses, M&S faces an estimated loss of up to £300 million in operating profits and a plunge of £600 million in market capitalization following the breach.
As detailed recently by the Financial Times, Scattered Spider’s methods illuminate a stark reality: technical cybersecurity solutions alone are not enough. The group’s expertise lies in a blend of digital deception and human manipulation, a practice known as social engineering. Unlike traditional cybercriminals reliant solely on technical exploits, Scattered Spider meticulously researches employee identities, simulates convincing interactions, and leverages human psychology to circumvent cyber defenses.
McKinsey Confirms the Limits of GRC and Points Toward Integration
In its May 2025 article “Governance, Risk, and Compliance: A New Lens on Best Practices,” McKinsey & Company delivers a candid assessment of the widespread shortcomings in today’s governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) functions. Based on survey data from nearly 200 corporate leaders, the article highlights persistent underperformance across all three pillars of GRC and outlines five imperatives for reform. But what McKinsey never quite says—though it clearly suggests—is that the GRC model itself may be past its expiration date.
The findings echo what many in the risk management profession have long understood: legacy GRC frameworks are no longer adequate in a world defined by interconnected risks, real-time decisions, and strategic uncertainty. Below, we examine the key insights from the report and explain how they point—whether intentionally or not—toward Integrated Risk Management (IRM) as the future-facing alternative.
Introducing The RTJ Bridge—A Premium Subscription Delivering Strategic Insights for Risk Leaders
Wheelhouse Advisors announces the formal launch of The RTJ Bridge, the new premium subscription service from The RiskTech Journal. Positioned strategically between our daily industry commentary and comprehensive quarterly IRM Navigator™ research reports, The RTJ Bridge delivers weekly insights, executive briefings, and exclusive deep-dive editorial series.
Alongside this premium offering, the standard edition of The RiskTech Journal is now fully open-access, including unrestricted browsing of our past content library.
This tiered content strategy ensures risk leaders and senior executives receive timely and actionable insights at a fraction of the cost associated with traditional analyst firms such as Gartner and Forrester.
Operational Intelligence — How IRM Solves Connected Risk Failures
in today’s digital risk environment, agility and resilience are everything. Risk events once considered unlikely—global cyber disruptions, third-party failures, data breaches, operational breakdowns—now occur with alarming frequency. As these risks grow more interconnected, traditional Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) frameworks, often built around static risk registers and slow reporting cycles, are no longer sufficient.
Risk management is evolving from a reactive back-office control utility into a strategic engine of operational intelligence. Enabled by advancements in risk technology, analytics, and real-time data integration, modern Integrated Risk Management (IRM) platforms are helping organizations detect emerging operational risks earlier, connect siloed insights, and embed resilience into the core of enterprise decision-making.
This article previews that transformation—and offers a forward look at what’s coming in the IRM Navigator™ ORM Report – Q2 2025, which evaluates key trends, capabilities, and vendors shaping the future of operational risk management (ORM).
The Risk Ignored — Part 1: Revisiting the Origin Story of a Software Industry
Some of the biggest failures in modern risk management didn't happen because we lacked frameworks. They happened because we misunderstood risk and how it must be managed.
We've built controls. We've stood up compliance programs. We've adopted acronyms and bought technology platforms promising enterprise-wide oversight. Yet risk still slips through the cracks—not because it isn't documented, but because it isn't truly visible and understood.
I've spent 35 years helping organizations—from Fortune 100 giants to growing mid-market firms—face this reality. And the truth is this: risk management has always been more fragmented, political, and performative than most are willing to admit.
“The Risk Ignored” is a documentary-style series of articles I’ve created to give readers exclusive insights into what really happened in the last 25 years of risk management technology development.
Why Generative AI Is Breaking Cyber Insurance—and What Risk Leaders Must Do Next
The promise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) is captivating: it automates content creation, accelerates decision-making, and unlocks new efficiencies across industries. But beneath this glittering facade lurks an existential threat that few executives acknowledge: these systems are introducing catastrophic risks that cyber insurance markets are neither prepared for—nor willing to underwrite fully. As insurers frantically scramble to recalibrate policies in light of AI-driven threats, risk executives face a stark choice: transform how they manage emerging digital risks or face potentially devastating uninsured losses.
The Great Risk Revolution—Why GRC Alone Can't Save Your Organization
In boardrooms across the globe, a quiet revolution is underway. Organizations that once viewed risk management primarily through the lens of Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) are discovering—often the hard way—that yesterday's frameworks are increasingly inadequate for today's complex threat landscape.
Consider this. When the World Economic Forum recently surveyed global executives, the most pressing concerns they identified—from AI disruption to supply chain vulnerabilities—weren’t neatly contained within traditional GRC boundaries. These risks cascade across organizational silos, render conventional approaches obsolete, and demand a fundamentally different way of thinking about organizational resilience.
Moving Beyond the GRC Mindset - Why Boards Must Rethink Risk for the AI Era
I’m often questioned—sometimes challenged and occasionally attacked—by professionals who are deeply invested in traditional Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) approaches. For many, GRC isn’t just a framework or a set of tools—it’s an identity, a career foundation, and in many cases, a commercial interest. So when I suggest that risk management must evolve beyond legacy GRC models, I’m not just raising a strategic argument—I’m challenging a belief system.
But this is not about abandoning GRC. It’s about recognizing that GRC, in its traditional, siloed, compliance-first form, is no longer sufficient for today’s risk environment.
AI's Risk Reckoning: How Integrated Risk Management Can Prevent Catastrophe
Organizations must adopt a structured, enterprise-wide approach to AI risk governance to balance AI's opportunities and risks. Integrated Risk Management (IRM) provides the governance framework to manage AI risks holistically, aligning AI implementation with corporate strategy, regulatory compliance, cybersecurity, and operational resilience.
The Future of Risk Management - How AI Agents Are Transforming IRM
Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents are revolutionizing Integrated Risk Management (IRM) by enabling organizations to detect, analyze, and mitigate risks autonomously. Unlike traditional risk management frameworks that rely heavily on manual assessments and static controls, AI-driven solutions enhance speed, accuracy, and adaptability, reducing financial losses, security breaches, and compliance failures.
Bridging the Resilience Gap: Why Integrated Risk Management Outperforms Legacy GRC Solutions
A recent KPMG Risk & Resilience Survey (March 2025) has revealed a concerning reality: most U.S. organizations remain unprepared to handle increasing risk events and broad disruptions. The report highlights that two-thirds to nearly three-quarters of organizations face moderate to strong barriers to managing risk effectively. The survey findings confirm a critical gap in how organizations manage risk and, more importantly, where traditional Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) technologies fall short.
Distilled Intelligence or Compressed Catastrophe? The High-Stakes Risks of Shrinking AI
Their is a great deal of hype about distilled AI, an emerging technique that trims down massive machine learning models into leaner, cheaper versions. While these distilled “student” models may look—and sometimes perform—much like their full-fledged AI counterparts, a closer inspection reveals a labyrinth of potential flaws: from amplified bias and reduced accuracy to hidden legal liabilities.
The Digital Risk Paradox - Why Corporate Digitalization Could Be Your Biggest Liability
Digital transformation has long been heralded as the corporate world's silver bullet—promising efficiency, resilience, and competitive advantage. However, emerging research suggests a more unsettling reality: the rush to digitalize may create as many risks as it mitigates.
Moving Fast and Breaking Things - The Hidden Risks of AI's Silent Upgrades
In recent months, an increasing number of organizations across finance, healthcare, and technology sectors have encountered significant disruptions caused by seemingly minor updates to their AI-driven tools. For instance, compliance teams at major financial institutions faced confusion and heightened regulatory exposure when an incremental update to their AI language models altered interpretations of regulatory guidance overnight. Without clear prior communication from the AI vendor, these subtle but impactful changes created significant operational uncertainty and regulatory scrutiny.
Citi's $81 Trillion Error Highlights Urgent Need for Stronger Integrated Risk Management
The startling news that Citigroup mistakenly credited a client’s account with $81 trillion instead of a mere $280 underscores a critical weakness pervasive in today’s financial institutions: insufficiently robust integrated risk management (IRM) systems. This incident, termed a “near miss” by Citi, reveals deep-seated operational vulnerabilities that continue to plague banks, despite considerable investment and regulatory scrutiny.
Beyond GRC: Why IRM is the Next Evolution in Risk Management
Governance, Risk, and Compliance (GRC) is no longer enough. The relentless pace of AI-driven cybersecurity threats, regulatory scrutiny, and digital transformation is rendering traditional GRC models obsolete. Organizations that still rely on static compliance checklists and fragmented risk functions are being left behind in an era that demands continuous, autonomous risk management.
The future of risk isn’t just about compliance—it’s about integration. Integrated Risk Management (IRM) is taking GRC to the next level by fusing it with Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Technology Risk Management (TRM), and Operational Risk Management (ORM). This shift isn’t incremental; it’s a paradigm change that redefines how risk is managed in a hyper-connected world.
Discover Wheelhouse Advisors’ 2025 Integrated Risk Roadmap for Research and Insights
As the world of risk management evolves, Wheelhouse Advisors remains at the forefront of delivering insights, research, and actionable strategies to navigate the complexities of today’s dynamic risk landscape. In 2025, we will focus on four overarching themes corresponding to the key segments of the Integrated Risk Management (IRM) framework: Technology Risk Management (TRM), Operational Risk Management (ORM), Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC), and Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). These themes will guide our content delivery through the IRM Navigator™ Reports, IRM Vendor Compass™ Ratings, The Risk Wheelhouse podcasts, and articles in The RiskTech Journal.
NIS2 and the Global Risk Landscape: Harnessing Integrated Risk Management to Stay Ahead
The EU’s NIS2 Directive represents a significant evolution in cybersecurity governance, and its ripple effects are set to transform compliance landscapes for companies worldwide. Despite uneven transposition across EU member states, NIS2's broader implications underscore the urgency for proactive risk management strategies. Companies can leverage Integrated Risk Management (IRM) solutions to turn these regulatory challenges into competitive advantages.
Navigating the DORA Deadline: Why Integrated Risk Management is Critical
The clock is ticking for financial institutions and ICT suppliers as the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) prepares to take effect on January 17, 2025. This ambitious regulatory framework aims to bolster the financial sector's resilience against cyber disruptions, mandating a series of stringent requirements on operational monitoring, incident reporting, and third-party risk management. Yet, the urgency of compliance efforts has uncovered a glaring challenge: organizations without Integrated Risk Management (IRM) systems risk falling short of these critical obligations.
The Future of AI Agents in Integrated Risk Management
The digital transformation of risk management has entered a new era with the emergence of AI agents, autonomous systems that promise to revolutionize how organizations approach integrated risk management (IRM). These sophisticated systems represent more than just an automation tool; they offer a fundamental shift in how organizations identify, assess, and respond to risks across their operations. As organizations face increasingly complex risk landscapes, AI agents provide the capability to handle this complexity while maintaining the comprehensive perspective essential to effective IRM.