Credit Union tech-talk News

May 5 - May 9, 2008

• General News
• Hardware News
• Software Updates
• ATMs/Kiosks
• Biometric Digest Highlights
• Wireless World
• Security Section
• Leaders Roundtable
• Technology and Marketing
• Online Banking/E-Commerce/
  Website Design
• Internet Access
• Call Centers
• Conferences

* Randolph-Brooks FCU to Offer DeposZip Consumer Deposit Solution 
* CU*Answers Adds 4 New CU*BASE Clients
* Summit Signs Five Canadian Credit Unions for iSpectrum
* 25 Credit Unions Renew with Bradford-Scott  

Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union in Live Oak, Texas, has selected DeposZip for its consumer/small-business remote capture service. DeposZip was created by Eastern Corporate Federal Credit Union (EasCorp), which administers the service. Credit unions deploying DeposZip provide their members access from their home banking systems. Members select “Make a Deposit” from an on-screen menu, single sign on to the interface and are redirected to DeposZip’s custom-designed screens that match the credit unions’ look and feel. 

CU*Answers, a CUSO with clients in 16 states, announced four new client contract signings within the past 60 days to convert to its enterprise CU*BASE Processing System – including 2 new, start-up credit unions. These client signings include: 1) Community West CU – Kentwood, MI; 2) Sentinel FCU – Box Elder, SD; 3) The Finest FCU – Brooklyn, NY (a start-up CU); and 4) CR Community First FCU – Eagle Butte, SD (a start-up CU).

Five British Columbia credit unions have selected iSpectrum from Summit Financial Technologies Canada, part of Fiserv Solutions of Canada. The five most recent credit unions to select iSpectrum include: 1) Integris CU of Prince George ($392 million in assets); 2) Bulkley Valley CU of Smithers ($215 million in assets); 3) North Peace Savings & CU of Fort St. John ($196 million in assets); 4) Williams Lake & District CU of Williams Lake ($171 million in assets); and 5) Spruce CU of Prince George ($93 million in assets).

Bradford-Scott Data, currently supporting more than 160 credit unions in 15 states, announced that 25 current clients have renewed their agreements to use the Sharetec core data processing system for another five years. 

Hardware News

UK-based storage specialist Stonewood has announced a new series of encrypted hard drives, especially tailored to meet the demands of business users. The Eclypt Freedom is a portable external HDD that hooks to the computer via a USB 2.0 port, and allows the user to transparently encrypt the data traffic between the computer and the hard disk, regardless of the computer's operating system. The encryption process relies on the 256-bit AES algorithm and stores the key within the drive's internal chips. This approach prevents anyone from gaining access to the stored data by attacking the host computer's operating system. Additionally, the Eclypt is housed in a special case that claims to be tamper-proof. Attempts to break into the drive itself by removing the casing cause key components on the drive to break, rendering the data elements of the drive useless. 

The ability to remotely access servers is very important - especially for credit unions with minimal IT staff. A Massachusetts-based company is offering IT Departments a palm-sized piece of hardware that remotely supports an amazing range of computers, starting from PC, RS/6000, Alpha, SGI computers, Macs, and even Sun. Learn more about it in the June issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

Back to Top

Back to Top

ATMs/Kiosks

Some states mandate lighting levels around ATMs, while in other states it is up to the ATM deployer to properly illuminate their machines. Some experts say that even minimum lighting standards do not address all the factors that affect visibility and ensure safety for ATM users. We will explore this topic in the June issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

Boston-based Unwired Appeal claims to be one of the first SMS technology firms in the US, and challenges anyone to match their mobile platform services. They are now working with CO-OP Financial Services and Colorado Credit Union Association. Users of ATMs in these networks can find machine locations on their cell phones and mobile devices through a location-based services platform driven by Unwired Appeal.

Back to Top

AdmitOne Security (formerly BioPassword) announced the availability of the AdmitOne Authentication Suite. The suite links users to their digital identities using multiple factors, including keystroke dynamics, secure device signatures, one-time passwords and challenge-response questions. The software assesses the risk of fraud to determine confidence level of the user’s identity. If the confidence score is too low, additional authentication factors (e.g., one-time password to email or SMS) can be employed based on assigned policies. 

Back to Top

According to analyst house Gartner, the number of people making payments using their The Synet Windy31 USB Wireless Router (MW-P54SS) is not your typical router. Instead of connecting it to your DSL or cable modem to share an Internet connection, you plug it into a USB port on your PC or laptop. Once plugged in, the $60 Windy31 automatically configures itself to set up a wireless network that lets you share your Internet connection with as many as 31 other Wi-Fi enabled computers or devices. The device can also be switched to work as a regular 802.11b/g Wi-Fi card. The router doesn't support advanced features such as VPN, firewall, DDNS, or Wi-Fi Protected Setup. It does, however, support a wide range of wireless security including WEP, WPA, WPA2, and even MAC address filtering. 

Javelin Strategy & Research says that in 2008, about 24.8 million consumers will use contact-less cards. However, that number could rise to more than 57 million consumers using chip-embedded cards by 2013 if all of the players in the industry work together. James Van Dyke, president of Javelin, says that "consumers won’t benefit until the primary players - card networks, financial institutions, mobile carriers, merchants and handset manufacturers - work together toward a unified, simple solution."

Back to Top

Webroot Software is demonstrating a new service that will let organizations do enterprise Web filtering on an outsourced basis. The service routes Internet traffic through Webroot data centers, where malicious Web threats and unwanted content are blocked before they reach the corporate network. It replaces in-house content filtering software or appliances. The new content filtering service breaks websites into more than 70 categories, and then allows the enterprise to decide how it wants to handle them - block, allow, or restrict - according to the end user's identity. 

Wolters Kluwer Financial Services announced the release of Wiz Sentri: AML Virtuoso, which is an anti-money laundering training simulator. Wolters Kluwer says that AML Virtuoso gives credit unions the ability to educate their AML staffers on investigation requirements and best practices; simulate investigation experience in an interactive learning environment; and expose investigators to simple, intermediate and complex money laundering scenarios. 

Just about everyone agrees that virtual machine (VM) technologies are very cool, and great at saving money, space and electricity. Yet when it comes to security, there is considerable disagreement over how VM technology can be used to improve computer security. Some people claim that it can, while many others contend that most of the time using VM technology will increase overall risk. We will delve into this subject in the June issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

Back to Top

Security:

Perimeter, Host and Endpoint Security – Finding the Right Mix

Arcot - http://www.arcot.com   Read R. 'Doc' Vaidhyanathan's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Arcot.pdf

Astaro - http://www.astaro.com Read Alex Quinonez's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Astaro.pdf

Code Green Networks - http://www.codegreennetworks.com   Read Brian Czarny's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/CGN.pdf

Digital Resolve - http://www.digital-resolve.net Read Dennis Maicon's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/DigitalResolve.pdf

e-DMZ Security - http://www.e-dmzsecurity.com   Read Kris Zupan's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/e-DMZ.pdf

Galaxy - http://www.fiserv-galaxy.com Read Vince Francone's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Galaxy.pdf

Harland Financial Solutions - http://www.harlandfinancialsolutions.com   Read Peter McKellar's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/HFS.pdf

HEIT - http://www.goheit.com   Read Dan Holt's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Heit.pdf

Integrated Computer Solutions - http://www.icsinc.com   Read Stephen Goldsby's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/ICS.pdf

MagTek - http://www.magtek.com   Read Kiran Gandhi's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/MagTek.pdf

Netsecuris - http://www.netsecuris.com   Read Leonard Jacobs' comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Netsecuris.pdf

Network Box - http://www.networkboxusa.com   Read Pierluigi Stella's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/NetworkBox.pdf

Perimeter eSecurity - http://www.perimeterusa.com   Read Kevin Prince's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Perimeter.pdf

Proofpoint - http://www.proofpoint.com   Read Sandra Vaughan's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Proofpoint.pdf

Sydel - http://www.sydelcorp.com   Read Antonio Gonzalez's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Sydel.pdf

TraceSecurity - http://www.tracesecurity.com   Read Jim Stickley's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/TraceSecurity.pdf

TriGeo Network Security - http://www.trigeo.com   Read Michelle Dickman's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/TriGeo.pdf

ZixCorp - http://www.zixcorp.com   Read Dena Bauckman's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Zix.pdf

Back to Top

Smaller credit unions may be enticed into considering a free CRM software solution to help track their members or potential members. However, some experts say that while possibly more pleasing to the bottom line, this isn’t the best choice in the long run. According to the latest white paper from VendorGuru.com, "The Unexpected Costs of Free CRM Systems," free CRM tools can carry hidden costs, may require a hardware investment, can lack customization, and may have reliability and security concerns, among other faults.

Back to Top

Debit card issuers expect a marked slowdown in growth this year, according to a PULSE survey done by consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Financial institution respondents predicted growth rate for signature debit (12%) somewhat exceeds their expectation for PIN debit growth (11%). But both forecasts fall well short of sunnier expectations last year, which were 16% for signature and 17% for PIN. Transaction growth for both signature- and PIN-based debit cards ranked as the No. 1 concern, followed by fraud losses (66%), PIN prompting by merchants (56%), and pressure on interchange rates (42%). Issuers reported they are taking a number of steps to counteract the slowdown in growth, including stronger marketing to attract new users among younger consumers (including positioning the linked account as a “debit” account rather than a “checking” account) and more refined segmentation of cardholders to yield better results on target marketing. 

Washington Mutual announced a new account opening experience that it says couples 100% online approval and opening, and eliminates the need to mail a traditional signature card. Rather than the signature card, the new customer simply uses the first check in their checkbook, which has been specially designed so that once written and processed, it is scanned and used to serve as the sample signature for the account. 

California-based Lockheed Federal Credit Union is closely monitoring both their test and production online banking environments with a software package called TrueView from Symphoniq. When a member uses their online banking platform, the software temporarily reports performance and then is deleted when the user surfs over to another page. Meanwhile, the TrueView software which loaded on Lockheed's online banking servers collects all the performance data and generates reports. In essence, TrueView allows the credit union to track and profile an entire transaction from a Web page to the back-end database and precisely determine the root cause of any slowdowns or issues.

Back to Top

SkyWay USA claims to have developed a unique hybrid technology that utilizes present telecommunications infrastructure to provide the most reliable and affordable satellite Internet service in the US. SkyWay USA says that their exclusive hybrid technology addresses both rain fade issues as well as service and reliability problems by utilizing either phone or cellular networks as a request path to the Internet, and a simple receive-only device. The firm offers 4 plans ranging from $29.95 per month for 256K to $79.95 per month for 1.5M.

Adtran introduced a stand-alone IP PBX: the NetVanta 7060. This IP PBX supports both digital and analog trunks, and includes a SIP-aware firewall and 24 Power-over-Ethernet ports to directly power IP phones. It also supports voice mail, music-on-hold, overhead paging and a relay to trigger the opening of office doors by the receptionist. The NetVanta 7060 differs from Adtran’s existing NetVanta 7100 branch-office device in that it does not support data traffic. The new box is runs $9,800 for a unit with 24 phones. 

If your credit union is currently stuck with an outdated, 20th-century phone system, you may be surprised at what a modern, IP-based phone system can do - and how affordable they can be. For a credit union with a handful of users, an IP PBX appliance and five phones could cost you less than $3,000, and you could typically set everything up yourself in less than an hour. We will clue you into 5 different systems that meet this criteria in the June issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe now.

Back to Top

By combining their IP network expertise with solutions provided by CommPartners and Transera, Velocity Networks is providing enterprise grade VoIP services and call center solutions for business customers. Hosted VoIP offers business phone system features such as voicemail and IVR without requiring expensive PBX equipment. Velocity says that they deliver voice over their broadband infrastructure privately, virtually eliminating the quality issues associated with running VoIP over the public Internet. Plus, the firm touts that their Voice Over IP is packaged as flat rate plans vs. the pay per minute plans of traditional telephone companies so your employees and call center representatives can talk as much as they want without fear of running up large monthly bills.

Back to Top

Catch Tom and Bill Rogers, Associate Editor of Credit Union tech-talk at the following conferences in 2008:

June 5-6, Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference

October 15-18, Las Vegas - Firefighters' National Credit Union Summit

Back to Top