Following the move of employees online and the implementation of hybrid work, about 401TPTP3T of companies in Romania have improved or are in the process of improving their fraud protection systems, as half of the companies active on the market have reported or accused increased cases of internal or external fraud since the beginning of the pandemic, shows an analysis by Corporate Intelligence Agency, a company that deals with the identification and documentation of fraud in companies.

"In the Romanian business environment, with some exceptions, there is a lack of prevention culture, as companies have a reactive behavior. It is only when something happens that organizations become preoccupied with investing in processes or procedures and systems that allow them to continue their activity. In order to continue their development in such periods, company leaders must adapt their business mentality to crisis situations and invest in prevention, control and employee training systems to adapt to exceptional working conditions," said Gabriel Zgunea, CEO of Corporate Intelligence Agency in a statement.

He added that a minimum 301TPTP3T increase in the security budget may be enough to limit the potential for internal fraud in organizations.

Analysis by the Corporate Intelligence Agency shows that with working from home, crime has increased by around 401TPTP3T in fraud cases. Also, some of these are insider crimes that can be detected by the employer itself.

"The experience of the last two years has demonstrated the risks of working from home and hybrid work, with practices adopted that make companies vulnerable including contracts on different messaging systems, the disclosure of sensitive data in private, unsecured emails used by hackers for ransomware operations, or even deepfake audio attacks or employee fraud such as the misappropriation of databases, mail and technology."

Also, in order to limit vulnerabilities, especially in the context of remote and hybrid working, companies need to analyze new risks and realities, adapt and improve their security systems, as well as implement new procedures, tests and work scenarios.

"It is a risky approach on the part of a company not to exercise the control function for reasons of maintaining the psychological comfort of the employee or organizational culture, if there are sufficient signs that indicate possible fraud," said Dan Rusu, Senior Partner at Corporate Intelligence Agency