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Maryann Karinch
The Open Group
+1 650 726 7020

Top Law, Financial Firms in US and UK Team Up to Produce IT Risk Vocabulary

The Open Group Sponsors Active Loss Prevention Project to Mitigate Risks Related to Electronic Business

San Francisco, CA / London, England – October 14, 2002 – Led by Tarlo Lyons Solicitors and Deloitte & Touche in the United Kingdom, and the Washington, DC-based law firm of Steptoe & Johnson LLP, a project to establish a “vocabulary of IT risk” has been launched with the sponsorship of The Open Group. The founding members will present their first draft for public review at The Open Group’s Active Loss Prevention conference, October 16 in Cannes, France.

“Chief executives urgently need to be able to define and describe the risks related to electronic business,” said Allen Brown, President and CEO of The Open Group. “The Risk Vocabulary project will yield a set of terms that can be used to communicate risk information in a standard way. It is the first step toward getting vendors, customers, insurers, auditors, and lawyers working collaboratively toward risk-mitigation practices and agreeing on a certification program for mitigation strategies.”

The project deliverables will be web-based and CD versions of the vocabulary, as well as a book.

About the Active Loss Prevention Initiative

Active Loss Prevention is the proactive management of information system risk. Through The Open Group’s Active Loss Prevention initiative, participants will develop a risk-mitigation infrastructure for information systems. The initiative involves a multidisciplinary approach to risk management that combines information technology, legal, audit, financial, insurance and business expertise. The common interest of members is protecting the physical, technical and information assets of the extended enterprise and mitigating the impact of inevitable losses.

Current projects of the initiative are as follows:

For Legal, Audit and Insurance Professionals

• Vocabulary – a set of terms that can be used to accurately communicate risk information
• Liability – defining boundaries of liability with standard contract terms, model law, model regulation, standard business terms, and so on
• Actuarial Data – enabling businesses to assess risk, cost, frequency of events, severity, and so on

For IT Professionals

• Trust Services – identifying and understanding the services that business will require to maintain current levels of trust and deliver standards-based solutions in an internet-enabled environment

About the Open Group

The Open Group, a vendor-neutral and technology-neutral consortium, has a vision of Boundaryless Information Flow achieved through global interoperability in a secure, reliable and timely manner. The Open Group’s mission is to drive the creation of Boundaryless Information Flow by working with customers to capture, understand and address current and emerging requirements, establish policies, and share best practices; working with suppliers, consortia and standards bodies to develop consensus and facilitate interoperability, to evolve and integrate specifications and open source technologies; offering a comprehensive set of services to enhance the operational efficiency of consortia; and developing and operating the industry's premier certification service and encouraging procurement of certified products.