London, UK - 25 February 2005, 00:01 GMT - mi2g is honoured to celebrate its ninth birthday with the appointment of Major General Bill Robins as Senior Consultant in asymmetric risk solutions. We take this opportunity to thank our friends, strategic allies and clients for helping us to evolve and consolidate our presence in the security architecture and global risk management arena.

General Robins is ideally suited to his new role in countering asymmetric risks in all dimensions - land, sea, sky, space and cyberspace. During his time in the British Defence Forces, he was tasked with unifying UK Defence Information Services across the Ministry of Defence (MoD), Cabinet Office and Other Government departments as well as starting the work on unifying Naval, Army and Air information services in the various theatres of operations. During that time he helped to develop policy on Information Security in Defence and Government.

Prior to that, General Robins was in command of an electronic warfare regiment in the British Army and during a spell in Whitehall, he led the requirements team for a strategic protected bunker in London for key government services. Subsequently he directed Command and Information Systems for the Army and developed the Army Information Systems Strategy.

On leaving the Army in 1998, General Robins was appointed Chairman of the Royal Signals Institution and worked as Consultant to Her Majesty's Treasury, UK Government, before joining BAE Systems where his last appointment was as Director of Advanced Concepts for the C4ISR Group. He is an Associate Fellow of the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies and a Visiting Professor at Cranfield University, assigned to the Royal Military College of Science.

"The wide scope and high quality of mi2g's work is exemplary. They are second to none in their ability to fuse political, legal, insurance and technology issues to reduce asymmetric risk," said General Robins. "I am delighted and honoured to join them on their 9th birthday."

Parliamentary Office of Science & Technology and Institute of Directors, UK

In the national interest, mi2g has been delighted to share its intelligence and research on asymmetric warfare with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, which seeks to provide an independent and balanced analysis of related public policy issues to the House of Lords and the House of Commons. mi2g has also been sharing its research with the Institute of Directors which brings together as its members, the CEOs and directors of large as well as small businesses in the UK.

Professor Jim Norton, senior policy adviser at the UK Institute of Directors and board member of The UK Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) said, "I congratulate mi2g on their consistent record of worldwide and courageous 'thought leadership' on digital risks over the last nine years. Their analysis and insight is second to none and their call for a collective global response to the new security challenges is both welcome and timely. I wish them all the very best for this anniversary and into the future." Prof Norton is the former head of the UK Cabinet Office PIU eCommerce team.

In the last nine years, the mi2g digital risk management research, methodology and bespoke security architecture techniques have been adopted by major players in financial services - on both sides of the Atlantic - and government agencies. mi2g has recently proposed a World Security Organisation with regional clusters to counter global asymmetric threats holistically.

The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry

"Being plugged into the very impressive mi2g network has been extremely valuable to me in our efforts to heighten the awareness of SMEs to the risks they face in the digital age," said Colin Stanbridge, Chief Executive, London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the largest business organisation in the UK Capital with the majority of its members in the Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) sector. "The lack of risk awareness amongst SMEs is a danger not only to themselves but to the whole of London's economy as they are a crucial part of the business supply chain. I look forward to working with DK Matai and his colleagues in the future in order to reduce this lack of awareness."

The Asymmetric Threats Contingency Alliance (ATCA)

"I wish to congratulate mi2g and its Chairman, DK Matai," said Rudi Bogni, Chairman of Medinvest, one of the ATCA 'Inaugural Session' speakers and member of the Governing Council of the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation (CSFI) in the City of London. "on nine years of unwavering commitment to the prevention of the most damaging silent crime, digital crime."

"mi2g's effort in establishing and supporting ATCA through to the building of awareness of the asymmetric nature of 21st century nihilism, whether dressed up in religious, political or sectarian clothes, is remarkable."

"DK Matai has recognised that humanism and solidarity must today be built on solid new technology, but also rest on the old, well-tested values of truth, rational analysis, debate and their unerring pursuit."

Wolfsberg - The Platform for Executive and Business Development, Switzerland (a subsidiary of UBS)

"We have greatly appreciated mi2g's valuable and wide-ranging co-operation and advice over the last two years, specially - though not only - in relation to the annual Wolfsberg Digital Future (WDF) forum which of course covers Internet and ICT as well as biotech, nanotech, robotics, manufacturing, adaptive home automation, and related tech developments," said Prof Prabhu Guptara, Executive Director, Organisation Development, Wolfsberg. "DK Matai's speech on digital security issues last year was outstanding, and we look forward to his update at the next WDF on 11th & 12th April 2005." Wolfsberg is a wholly-owned subsidiary of UBS, a world leading Swiss financial services group.

The Shirley Foundation

mi2g is increasingly active in global philanthropic activities with The Shirley Foundation, primarily in the fields of autism and IT. Their policy is to give significant support to pioneering projects with a strategic impact, especially those that can extend the boundaries of knowledge, understanding and best practice.

Dame Stephanie Shirley, Founder and Life President, Xansa plc, said "Congratulations to mi2g and thanks for your charitable support to the global alliance to get at the causes of autism by 2012 and halve its global cost by 2020."

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) - University of Oxford

mi2g is collaborating with the OII to create a world class forum where decision makers from industry meet with leading academics to discuss global issues and set their strategic agenda. The OII is one of the world's first truly multi-disciplinary Internet institutes based in a major university. Devoted to the study of the societal implications of the Internet, the OII seeks to shape research, policy and practice in the UK, Europe and around the world.

"Congratulations to mi2g on the hard work, and creative approach, of your colleagues on some of the most rapidly rising issues of our information society," said Professor Bill Dutton, Director of the Oxford Internet Institute.

The Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT), City of London

"My heartiest congratulations to mi2g and its founder DK Matai on achieving nine years of success in digital risk and security management. These are matters of concern to the City of London's Worshipful Company of Information Technologists and are embraced as featured topics in our current seminar series," said Roger Graham, Master, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists (WCIT) in the City of London.

Geoffrey Hancock

Geoffrey Hancock, founder of the MEC Group of companies and co-founder of mi2g, said, "Bill Robins' appointment is an excellent addition to our team and is particularly welcome. The ever expanding asymmetric threat to business continuity is closely tracking the international political scenario with particular reference to terrorism and organised crime. The message which is clear from mi2g intelligence is that governments and corporates alike ignore these issues at their peril."

The mi2g Contingency Capability Radar (CCR) is considered particularly suitable in preparing for chemical, biological, nuclear, radiological and conventional terrorism threats to business continuity whilst the Digital Risk Matrix (DRM) is deployed in preparation for sustained digital attacks.

Rear Admiral John Hilton

Rear Admiral John Hilton, Director, mi2g said, "I have been associated with mi2g since its early days and have been very impressed to watch it rapidly evolve into its present position as one of the world leaders in information security and asymmetric warfare issues. I congratulate mi2g on its birthday, I am delighted with the appointment of Major General Bill Robins and I wish all those involved with the company many happy, exciting and prosperous years ahead."

mi2g's security intelligence and research continues to be regarded as one of the world's most authoritative sources of overt and covert digital attacks, phishing scams, spam and malware - virus, worm and Trojan Horse - proliferation.

DK Matai

"First and foremost, a warm welcome to Bill Robins! We are blessed with excellent stakeholders and through them we are inspired to innovate: before the end of this decade we aim to offer the convenience and guaranteed security of one stop holistic banking," said DK Matai, Executive Chairman, mi2g. "This second generation data custody and digital - "D2" - banking will be second nature to its users as they enjoy the ability to store and access digital valuables and finances from anywhere at anytime without fear of being hacked or plagued by malicious software. The current situation of global malware epidemics, phishing scams and spam campaigns will force tectonic shifts in the digital eco-system."

The last two years have been momentous in mi2g's history having won the Queen's Award for enterprise in the category of Innovation and for launching the D2 Banking holistic initiative for guaranteed data vaulting and digital banking services.

[ENDS]

mi2g is at the leading edge of building secure on-line banking, broking and trading architectures. The principal applications of our technology are:

1. D2-Banking;
2. Digital Risk Management; and
3. Bespoke Security Architecture.

mi2g pioneers enterprise-wide security practices and technology to save time and cut cost. We enhance comparative advantage within financial services and government agencies. Our real time intelligence is deployed worldwide for contingency capability, executive decision making and strategic threat assessment.

mi2g Research Methodology: The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List is available from here in pdf. Please note terms and conditions of use listed on www.mi2g.net

Full details of the January 2005 report are available as of 1st February 2005 and can be ordered from here. (To view contents sample please click here).