Credit Union tech-talk News

March 3 - March 7, 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

* uMonitor Signs Three CUs
* ESP Enhances Home Banking Product
* Prime Financial Savings & CU Converts to Summit 
* FirstClose Signs Superior Savings CU 
* Campus FCU Selects Extractable  

uMonitor, a provider of a wide range of online solutions specifically designed for credit unions, announced that FAIRWINDS Credit Union, First Credit Union and KeyPoint Credit Union have selected the company’s uOpen & uFund, an online account opening and funding service. Credit union members have the ability to set up new deposit accounts, obtain credit cards and complete loan applications via the Internet. 

Enhanced Software Products (ESP), a credit union core data processing provider with more than a decade of experience, announced that their Home Banking product, OASIS, is now certified with Intuit and their Quicken/Quickbooks data exchange. This interface allows ESP’s participating client Credit Union membership to download their transaction history into the Intuit suite of products. Six ESP credit union clients have launched this feature in the last 30 days.

Summit Financial Technologies Canada announced that Prime Financial Savings and Credit Union has converted from its DOS-based legacy system to its Internet-based iSpectrum platform. The core system is hosted at the Summit data center in Vancouver, British Columbia, and backed up by a business resumption and recovery center in Toronto.

FirstClose, a service of First Lenders Data which is an Austin, Texas-based provider of bundled mortgage settlement services, announced that Cleveland-based Superior Savings Credit Union has implemented their FirstClose solution. The platform includes credit reports, flood zone determinations, automated valuation models and Equiguard, an instant alternative to title reports for home equity and second mortgage transactions.

Extractable, a leading Web strategy consultancy, announced its selection by Campus Federal Credit Union. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, LA, Campus FCU will work with the company to help optimize its website and turn it in to a full service virtual branch.  

Hardware News

D-Link announced the expansion of its Green Ethernet technology series by introducing two new environmentally-friendly small business Gigabit switches: D-Link DGS-2200 series 5 and 8 port desktop switches. D-Link says that their Green Ethernet switches offer energy savings from 45 to 80 percent with no loss in performance. The company also offers rack mountable switches: the energy-efficient DGS-1016D 16-port and DGS-1024D 24-port high performance models.

VMware and Hewlett-Packard have signed an agreement to integrate VMware's virtualization software into 10 models of HP's computer servers. The companies said the joint offering will help customers adopt virtualization with greater speed and simplicity. Virtualization technology allows a single server to perform the work of 10 or more machines by creating multiple virtual computers that run simultaneously on the machine. VMware has also forged similar pre-installation deals with Dell, IBM, and Fujitsu Siemens.

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ATMs/Kiosks

At the recent ATMIA show Wincor Nixdorf was displaying their new SlimCash ATM, a more compact version of the ProCash 1500 that is designed for off-premises deployments. The SlimCash comes equipped with two cash cassettes, each holding up to 1,200 notes, and Wincor says that it will appeal to credit unions just as much as retailers. Other vendors were showing off machines as well: GRG Banking Equipment with their H22 TTW (through-the-wall) ATM and Nautilus Hyosung with its new MoniMax line. Slated to roll out later this year, the MoniMax 5300 comes with a standard 15-inch touchscreen LCD, can hold up to 6,000 notes, and supports a sidecar for advanced functions like check cashing and billpay. 

VERO, a leading financial technology provider, announced that West Texas Credit Union is the first credit union to pilot VERO’s end-to-end automated check cashing. The VERO solution is designed to streamline processes, enhance members’ experience and manage fraud risk. A VERO enrollment station and advanced function ATM was installed at the Americas El Paso branch.

Credit Union 24, the only national credit union-owned point-of-sale network, and Financial Service Centers Cooperative, the nation's largest credit union Shared Branch Network, announced an alliance to explore collaborative approaches to help credit unions maximize services and service delivery.

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Voice biometrics provides multifactor authentication of an individual's identity through the unique properties of an individual's voice. Voice biometric vendors say that their technology can be used to authenticate both telephone and online transactions and eliminates the need for remembering identifiers such as PINs, passwords, mother's maiden name, etc. or for having special equipment such as PIN pads or fobs. At a recent bankers convention, VeCommerce, a speech self-service company based in Acton, MA, offered a $1000 prize if anyone at the conference could "fool" VeVerify, the VeCommerce voice biometrics application. With appropriate multifactor authentication of a registered legitimate user in every instance - and the appropriate rejection of every fraudulent user - VeCommerce emerged the winner. 

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Fresh concerns have been raised over the security of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology used for contactless payments after a demonstration at the recent Black Hat 2008 conference. Security expert Adam Laurie was able to use his software to pull the name, account number and expiration date from an audience member's RFID-enabled American Express card - without removing the card from the victim’s wallet. However, Amex insists that it is confident in the security of ExpressPay and says the account number extracted by Laurie cannot be used for online transactions. ExpressPay cards have two account numbers - one for contactless payments and one for the debit or credit card feature. American Express says by only transmitting the 'alias' number for contactless payments it protects the credit or debit card number. The company says it has also stopped storing the cardholder's name on the ExpressPay chip.

There is a new wireless intrusion defense package that has come out that uses location tracking to sniff out trouble and block intruders on Wi-Fi networks. It can also track cellular telephone signals and sources of radio interference. We will provide more details in the April issue of Credit Union tech-talk - subscribe today.

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Lumension Security's Sanctuary Application Control offers application white-listing, as opposed to traditional anti-virus black-listing. White-listing is concerned with what files on a computer are good, instead of what files or signatures on a computer may be bad. With Sanctuary Application Control, as soon as something tries to execute, it's compared against the white-list - if it is not approved, it can't execute. Of course, your IT staff will have to develop a white list of binaries so that you can place them on the granted list, but proponents argue that white-listing can do an excellent job of keeping malware, spyware and keyloggers from running on your computers. 

NetEconomy, a business unit of Fiserv, announced that it has expanded its Financial Crime Suite to include a next-generation employee monitoring application designed to help financial institutions reduce revenue losses and protect against internal fraud. NetEconomy's Financial Crime Suite will be integrated with the employee fraud platform from Intellinx. The firms say that their combined offering will deliver a cross platform surveillance, investigation and case management system for employee visibility in corporate applications across a financial institution's operations.

TowerGroup announced new research titled "Process and Data Risks in a Changing Economy: How Credit Card Issuers Can Protect Their Portfolios" that identifies critical steps credit card issuers can take to withstand the current credit storm. In the research, TowerGroup outlines five core challenges to the credit cycle. 

• Changing Purchasing Habits - Diminished savings, lost home equity, increased debt, and higher unemployment means that card issuers must be ready for changes in card members' purchasing habits across every portfolio segment. 
• Changing Payment Patterns - Members who carry a balance month to month must be scored more aggressively to assess risk. 
• New Tests for Risk Models - Revenue and risk models, along with the capacity plans that assess staffing requirements, are typically regression based and volume sensitive. Current business models have never been tested at higher delinquency rates. 
• Redefinition of a "Good" Member - The definition of a profitable member (traditionally, a card member who uses most of a credit line and revolves the balance, but with modest delinquency) can quickly change when that member faces a stressed household budget.

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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

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Atlanta-based SYNERGISTICS Research just released their Hispanic Market Monitor 2007 report. In it, their CEO William McCracken stated, “Traditional providers should seriously evaluate the competitive threat of Wal-Mart, particularly with regard to the Hispanic market. Overall, about one-tenth of Hispanics have used money services at a Wal-Mart, and more than one-third say they are likely to do so. More importantly, three in ten Hispanics who are bank customers say they are likely to use the money services offered at Wal-Mart and one-tenth have already done so. No only do the money services being offered at Wal-Mart stores erode the ability of banks to earn revenue from these types of services, it reduces the contact banks have with these consumers which could lead to new relationships. The threat of Wal-Mart should not be discounted by traditional financial institutions.”

In its drive to add new add select employee groups, Scranton, PA-based NET Federal Credit Union will pay $50 for referral of a new SEG of up to 100 employees that joins, and $100 for larger SEGs. Plus, the contact person in the SEG will receive a $50 reward. 

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Yodlee announced that its proprietary DirectPay card payment network now supports over 300 national and regional billers, enabling new revenue generating credit and debit card based electronic bill payments. Yodlee says that "the 300 DirectPay billers represent over 40 percent of major U.S. billers by volume and give most consumers the opportunity to pay nearly half of their bills by card each month." For credit unions, Yodlee’s DirectPay card payments generate new interchange revenue with every credit or debit card based bill payment made. Because a typical Yodlee DirectPay payment averages over $125 per bill paid, Yodlee says that credit unions can generate $30 or more in new interchange revenue per bill per year. 

Prepaid card firm Meta Payment Systems (MPS) has launched iAdvance Line of Credit, which allows consumers to obtain small loans and have the money transferred to a prepaid card. MPS says iAdvance is intended for the millions of Americans who are unable to afford conventional financial institution loans. A consumer wanting to borrow money through iAdvance does not undergo a credit check, funds are immediately available to the borrower on the prepaid card, and repayment histories are reported to the major credit bureaus.

They may be small - just $11M in assets - but Georgetown University Alumni and Student Federal Credit Union members can still easily transfer funds from other institutions into their credit union accounts. Using the free Quickpay service, members choose two options: On-Demand Transfer (there must be one common signer on the CU account and the account from which the funds are being transferred) or Recurring Transfer (both the member and an authorized signer on the other account must be registered). 

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Cablevision has adapted its standard consumer cable VoIP service into a package for small businesses that have 12 or fewer phones and/or may be using an analog key system for phone features. For $29.95 a month for each line (for four lines or more), customers receive the standard Optimum Voice package: unlimited local and long distance calling for each line, voice mail, a slate of common features including caller ID, and even advanced features, such as find-me, caller ID on call waiting, and busy redial. For an additional $24.90 per month, businesses can move up to Optimum Online Boost, with a static IP address and speeds up to 30 megabits-per-second (mbps) downstream and up to 5 mbps upstream.

Cisco says it will offer Windows Server 2008 preinstalled on virtualized Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) appliances scheduled to be available later this year. This support will let users at branch offices access Windows Server 2008 locally - hosted on the WAAS appliance, which essentially becomes the software’s server - while also accessing applications remotely that are hosted on centralized data centers. The Windows Server 2008 services that will be offered as part of Cisco WAAS platforms initially include Domain Name System, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Active Directory and Print Services. 

MailFoundry sells unsolicited email blocking appliances, and they promise “no false positives”. They also offer a hosted email filtering service, and if you just need 10 or fewer mail boxes, MailFoundry will do your email filtering for free.

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Some IVR (integrated voice response) experts believe that too many organizations' IVR systems are far too complex. They say that the overall rule is always and only three choices. Callers can easily remember three things, and it is logical. So they recommend building your IVR tree with this rule in mind and working hard to eliminate all the words that are not really necessary to understand the message. While it is extremely important to provide a quick and easy path back to a live agent at the caller's discretion, you should make sure that your IVR abandonment rate is not too high. If it is, then they recommend going back to the drawing board and revamping your menu structure and wording so that everything flows logically from start to finish and provides a positive member experience.

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

March 20, Boston - Association of Credit Union Senior Officers

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

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

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