Credit Union tech-talk News

July 28 - August 1, 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

* Fiserv Credit Union Division Signs Five New Core Clients
* Los Angeles Firemen’s Credit Union Selects Open Solutions’ DNA 
* Kern FCU Partners with MeridianLink 
* FIMAC Updates Risk Analytics ALM Model With Variance Report
* Xtend Extols Benefits of Member Reach

Fiserv announced that it has signed five credit union clients to core processing contracts. POLAM FCU of Los Angeles, California has chosen to implement the Fiserv Premier system; Cooperativa de Ahorro Credito de Santa Isabel of Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico selected the Fiserv Reliance system; Southern Chautauqua FCU of Lakewood, New York, also chose Premier; Synergy Eastex FCU of Longview, Texas will make the move from in-house system to service bureau when it converts to the Fiserv OnCU system; and ACE CU of Mason City, Iowa has selected the CubicsPlus core processing system.

Los Angeles Firemen’s Credit Union has selected Open Solutions’ latest version of its relational core data processing platform - The Complete Credit Union Solution: DNA to address its enterprise-wide data processing needs. Open Solutions is a leading provider of integrated enabling technologies for credit unions in the United States, Canada and other international markets. In addition to The Complete Credit Union Solution: DNA data processing platform, LAFCU will also implement Open Solutions’ full cView CRM suite, the Financial Accounting Suite, the loan origination system and telephone/VRU. 

Kern Federal Credit Union recently deployed MeridianLink’s single automated lending and new account opening platform. The California-based credit union is using MeridianLink’s XpressAccounts along with the LoansPQ lending platform as a singular system to help expedite the process for membership approval and simultaneously provide members with pre-approval offers for various loan products via one online system.

FIMAC Solutions, an experienced developer of risk management and profitability software for credit unions, has updated its Risk Analytics ALM Model to include a Variance Report that improves model auditing, reduces errors, and helps to identify shifts and trends in a credit union’s positions. The Risk Analytics ALM Model, with backtesting, is a dynamic income simulation and net present value asset and liability management (ALM) model. FIMAC uses a software as a service (SAAS) format, so the ALM Model, controlled by the user, processes on a central web-based server and does not require the purchase of software. 

Xtend, a multi-owned CUSO, announced it had designed a marketing platform for allowing credit unions to more easily contact members on a day-to-day basis. Xtend says that for credit unions using the CU*BASE processing system, Member Reach is an important tier of the Partners in Practice Marketing Package. Using CU*BASE tools and a variety of delivery channels, targeted members will receive email messages, online banking and statement messages, e-newsletters, audio response and optionally, a direct phone call.

Hardware News

Two classes of tape storage are jumping to higher densities: Hewlett-Packard and Sony announced a coming generation of Digital Audio Tape (DAT) media with twice the capacity of the current technology and a higher transfer speed. The next generation of DAT, called DAT 320, will be able to hold 320GB of data on one cartridge. The new technology will also allow for back up from disks at speeds as high as 86GB per hour with 2:1 data compression.

Dell just unveiled its data center-hosted desktop product line which is a 2U box called the Dell Precision R5400 Rack Workstation. Dell also announced the new Dell FX100 remote access device, which is a small, fan-less client device that is meant to be used at the employee’s desk to access an R5400. Dell intends for there to be a 1-to-1 ratio between the R5400s and the FX100s, which do PC-over-IP including hardware-based encryption, compression, decompression and decryption.

In a recent conversation with a system administrator at a local credit union we heard that very statement; “Keeping up with security events and threats is becoming a full time job for me.” So how do you keep up? Automate your server monitoring and event log management today with ELM Log Manager.

This centralized system monitoring and event log management solution provides the automation busy system administrators need for event log consolidation and flexible reporting tools to satisfy compliance audits. Real-time alerts and notifications keep you aware of issues which require your immediate attention. 

Be proactive - get started today! Download a full-featured 30-day trial and experience for yourself the ease and efficiency of automated system monitoring with ELM Log Manager.

www.tntsoftware.com/tt5

TNT Software, Inc.
877-546-0878
info@tntsoftware.com 

Back to Top

Back to Top

ATMs/Kiosks

Creative Card Solutions is working with Fiserv EFT to place financial institution-labeled ATMs whose transactions are processed by Fiserv EFT around the country. The Temecula, CA-based company plans on placing 2,000 ATMs in 2008. The firm recently worked with Bayport and Beacon Credit Unions in Virginia and Gulf Winds Credit Union in Florida to place machines that are surcharge free to their members.

Shareholding credit unions of Credit Union 24, the country’s largest credit union-owned ATM and POS network, will receive $3.3 million in patronage dividends. The $3.3 million dividend is the largest patronage dividend payout in Credit Union 24 history.

Back to Top

Financial institutions in Europe and South Africa are testing a device that authenticates online transactions by asking users to run their fingerprint over a reader. If the print matches a stored copy, the device, which is made by Siemens, a German firm, and AXSionics, a Swiss firm, shows a PIN code that can then confirm the transaction. It also allows people to designate a panic finger, for use if fraudsters are forcing them to use the device; plus the scanner has to detect circulating blood to work. 

Back to Top

The Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, and Consumer Action recently wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission asserting that the privacy and security challenges of contactless payments should be tackled before consumers adopt contactless payment systems. The consumer groups warned that the integration of contactless payment systems with mobile phones could facilitate the capture of location information, which could be exploited in proximity marketing and consumer profiling. The consumer proponents also argued that payments should not be authenticated without the provision of passwords or PIN numbers. Some contactless proponents argue that this would negate the 'swipe and go' convenience of using the contactless technology.

Forrester has published a new report titled "Consumers Are Apathetic About Mobile Banking". The report's summary states: "online bankers and bill payers are uninterested in the mobile banking pitch. ... Why? Online bankers and bill payers don't see their transactions as urgent enough to warrant mobile access. Instead, they prefer to wait until they can access the Web, ATM, or phone channel." 

A new free service called Slydial allows you can place a call from any U.S. mobile or landline phone to any other U.S. cellular number and be routed directly to voice mail. However, depending on the phone being used and the service provider, call recipients may not see a missed-call icon or a record in their call logs after receiving a message from Slydial users. Additionally, the recipient's caller ID function needs to be activated on users' phones for Slydial to work. 

Back to Top

The Intrepidus Group has released PhishMe which is a software package that is designed to help prevent damage, theft and loss caused by targeted (spear) phishing attacks. PhishMe facilitates and automates the execution of mock phishing exercises, provides detailed reporting on user behavior, and provides targeted end user training. Using PhishMe’s built-in templates and WYSIWYG functionality, IT Departments can build phishing attacks against employees within minutes, collect metrics on user behavior, and immediately present training material to employees that fall prey to the bogus emails. 

In a related story, Trusteer announced that its Rapport product has been enhanced with a real-time cloud-based Phishing protection service that they say reduces fraud and asset theft if account data is stolen. The new service alerts online businesses when their customers access a malicious website so the account can be suspended and assets protected. 

According to a new study by ScanSafe, malware has risen by a staggering 278 percent in the first half of 2008. The ScanSafe Global Threat report is a study of more than 60 billion Web requests that ScanSafe has scanned, as well as 600 million Web threats it has blocked in 2008. ScanSafe says the increasing numbers of attacks on legitimate websites can be blamed on automated attack tools, which became freely available in the last months of 2007. The report found that increases in Web-based malware was in part due to large websites being compromised in June by SQL injection attacks.

Back to Top

Online Banking:

Online Banking…. Catering to Your Most Desirable Members

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

Exstream - http://www.exstream.com   Read Jerry Driscoll's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Exstream.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read Dave Selina's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Fiserv.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.cu7.fiserv.com Read Jay Slavin's comments:     http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Galaxy.pdf

Gartner - http://www.gartner.com   Read David Schehr's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Gartner.pdf

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

Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com   Read Marley Gray's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/Microsoft.pdf

Open Solutions - http://www.opensolutions.com Read Michael Nicastro's comments: http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

uMonitor - http://www.umonitor.com   Read Dinesh Sheth's comments:   http://www.cunews.com/roundtable/uMonitor.pdf

Back to Top

Fiserv announced that its Customer Value Enhancement (CVE) group will provide banking specific configurations that utilize the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management (CRM) 4.0 platform for its consumer, commercial and small business, private and wealth banking segments. Fiserv CVE has created role-based customizable templates covering informational needs, management dashboards and best practice processes, which will be embedded into the Microsoft Dynamics platform. 

Back to Top

According to a study by the University of Michigan, many online banking websites contain fundamental design flaws that could put online bankers at risk from cyber thieves. Some online banking websites make the following mistakes:

- place secure login boxes on insecure pages

- put contact information and security advice on insecure pages

- use social security numbers or e-mail addresses as user IDs

- don't state a policy on passwords or allow weak passwords

- use e-mail to send passwords or statements 

- redirect users to a site outside of their domain for certain transactions without warning

Yodlee announced that Yodlee PayToday is now available as a revenue generating addition to any financial institution's online banking website. PayToday is an expedited payments solution that Yodlee says can generate new fee revenue for credit unions by offering their members the convenience of guaranteed, same-day electronic payments to hundreds of national and regional billers across multiple biller categories, including: credit cards, mortgage, auto finance, insurance, utilities, cable and wireless.

Personal money management solutions are fairly common and gradually gaining acceptance. However some institutions are combining money management with easy-to-use research tools and personalized recommendations and suggestions. We will cover one leading edge system in the August issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today. 

Back to Top

Virtual private networks (VPNs) are well established as essential tools for corporate communications, and Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) VPNs are quickly becoming the norm. Within the next 18 months there will be more MPLS VPN connections than frame relay connections in the United States, according to Vertical Systems Group. MPLS VPN services offer fully meshed networks as a matter of course - any site connects to any other site. To try and accomplish the same thing with frame relay means expensive virtual circuits laid out between every site and every other site. MPLS also supports multiple qualities of service at varying prices to give business customers options to buy less-expensive VPN services for less-critical traffic. The bottom line is that MPLS lets organizations shed complexity and cost. 

A company called Bomgar offers their Bomgar Box for remote desktop access. The Bomgar Box is a secure platform for virtualizing support, and works through corporate firewalls enabling remote desktop connections to attended or unattended Windows, Linux, and Mac computers. It supports screen sharing or a command line interface and every remote desktop connection is protected with 256-bit AES SSL encryption.

Back to Top

Zeacom is a global provider of unified communications solutions with a customer base of more than 2500 small and midsized organizations in 25 countries. Traditionally Zeacom has sold their software-based solution as two products, with one targeted to the contact center and the other to meet messaging needs in the enterprise. However as unified communications platforms have converged and become more popular, the feature set for Zeacom’s core product has evolved into one software platform that can deliver both a suite of specialized contact center and enterprise-wide unified communications functionality. In other words, call center functionality is now coming to every employee within an organization.

Back to Top

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

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

November 13-15, New Orleans - Credit Union InfoTech Conference

June 4-5, Lake Las Vegas - Credit Union InfoSecurity Conference

Back to Top