1 year already! 1 year since we released the 2021 (nearly) best-selling platinum single GRC Christmas Carol.

This year, I decided to go back to basics for inspiration. And how best to do it than through the greatest Christmas movies that we all enjoy during this festive season? One of my favourites is… Die Hard 2.

I know, maybe an unconventional choice but there are 2 ways of looking at this movie:

1. John McLane is a cross between a black-belt audit ninja warrior and a Cybersecurity analyst: an unstoppable action hero that single-handedly manages any crisis situations the night before Christmas

OR

2. This is a Christmas miracle about a Business Continuity Manager saving the day with snow, music and happy ending

Call me an optimist but I like the last interpretation better.

If you recall well, the movie ends with the song Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let is Snow! by Vaughn Monroe. To go down memory lane, either (re-)watch the entire movie or play the song on Spotify. There’s also a longer version of this classic by Frank Sinatra on YouTube:

So, without further ado, put the music on loud, transfer the sound from your headset to the speakers and let the open space enjoy while singing a revised version:

Let me know! Let us go! Take a bow!, a GRC Christmas miracle

Background context: It’s a cold Christmas eve at ACME Corp. The lead auditor is alone is a meeting room trying to finalize the report. By solidarity, colleagues from the 2^nd Line are waiting the audit results. Dedicated control owners and risk champions from the 1^st Line sit in the lobby, waiting for the final conclusions to go home.

[Auditor, alone, singing]

Oh, audit results are frightful,

And the formatting ‘s an eyeful

And since I can’t really go

Let me know, Let me know, Let me know

It doesn’t seem we’re complyin’

Nor that we’ve closed our findin’

The risk levels are a blow

Let me know, Let me know, Let me know

[Entire 2^nd line colleagues join the auditor singing]

When we finally get it right

Oh how pleased we are to inform

That we can promptly shine a light

Yes we truly conform

The controls are still performin’

And issues in remediatin’

Our three lines in row

Let us go, Let us go, Let us go

[Control owners and risk champions step in]

He doesn’t care if it’s signed John Doe

He’s just putting on a nice show

He doesn’t care about the pain or about our woe

He just says: I want to know, want to know, want to know!

Oh-gee here’s the form

He gets that we’re just following the norm

His report ‘s complete and so ‘s the workflow

He agrees: we can go, we can go!

Oh, audit report ‘s now delightful

And conclusions, umm, wonderful

And since it’s now time to go

Take a bow, take a bow, take a bow!

It doesn’t seem it’s slowin’

And legislation continues poppin’

New controls ‘ll start to flow

So time to go, time to go, time to go!

With this year’s plan bein’ out

We just know we’ll need to transform

And harness all its might

From our brand new platform!

Manual testing is endin’

And my friends we won’t miss it

To all GRC fellow’

Let it show, let it show, let it show!

Thank you, sincerely, for following these blogs and your comments and contributions this year once again. I am very much looking forward to reading your feedback on the news blogs planned for 2023. In the meantime, if you’d like to get in touch, feel free to add a note on this blog or send me a message on Twitter @TFrenehard

Finally, in case one GRC Christmas song wasn’t enough, I also pasted below the links to the previous ones:

2021 – GRC Tuesdays: The Famous GRC Christmas Carol version 2021
2020 – GRC Tuesdays: We Wish You a Threat-Free Christmas and a Breachless New Year
2019 – GRC Tuesdays: The Twelve Days of (GRC) Christmas
2018 – Oops! Small oversight here… We missed a release
2017 – GRC Tuesdays: GRC Naughty or Nice Quiz
2016 – GRC Tuesdays: Jingle Bells