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Finanteq to Launch New Programs
Finanteq, a software and consulting firm that specializes in digital banking solutions, recently launched a new program called Pocket Branch which allows access to banking services through audio, video, or text chat. Finanteq’s second product is dubbed Extentum which is described as a no-code tool for extending digital banking capabilities.
RiskSense Introduces Full Spectrum Risk-Based Vulnerability Management
RiskSense has introduced Full Spectrum RBVM (Risk-based Vulnerability Management) that they say automatically discovers, analyzes, scores, and prioritizes both internal and external-facing security threat exposure across an organization’s IT infrastructure and applications.
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How to Dispose of IT Hardware Without Hurting the Environment
The first option to consider is returning the equipment the vendor or reseller you bought it from because vendors often give a fair-market buyout for the devices that can go toward new products. If that’s not an option, and you have to find a disposal company – an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) service – on your own, the first thing to check is whether it is properly certified. Proper certification starts with a Responsible Recycling (R2) certification.
DDR5 Memory Promises a Significant Speed Boost
DDR4, or Dynamic Data Rate version 4, came out in 2014. It started out at 1600 Mhz speeds and eventually reached 3200 Mhz at the very high end, with most DRAM in the low 2000 MHz range. However, now 3200 Mhz memory isn't fast enough. DDR5 will start at 3200 MHz and scale all the way up to 8400 MHz as time goes on. Intel is planning to move to DDR5 and PCI Express 5 (completely skipping PCIe v4) in 2021. Micron has begun sampling DDR5, Hynix said it plans to begin volume production at the end of this year, and Samsung plans to start DDR5 production next year.
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ZeroFOX's AI-Powered Platform Now Includes Security for Zoom and Slack
ZeroFOX has extended its artificial intelligence (AI) powered platform to now include advanced cyberattack protection capabilities for business collaboration platforms such as Zoom and Slack. ZeroFOX is offering a 15-day trial to help organizations protect their employees, customers and partners on Zoom and Slack.
Dell Releases New Tool to Detect BIOS Attacks
Computer manufacturing giant Dell just released a new security tool that detects attacks attempting to modify a computer's BIOS component. Named the Dell SafeBIOS Events & Indicators of Attack, the tool works by detecting changes to a Dell computer's BIOS configuration and raising an alert in companies' management consoles.
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Cash Payments to Shrink as Economic Worries Grow, GlobalData Predicts
The number of payments made in cash in the United States will shrink at a 1.5% compound annual rate between 2019 and 2023 in the United States largely due to consumer worries about the coronavirus, according to new forecasts from analytics and consulting company GlobalData.
ICICI Bank of India, working with government authorities, has deployed two mobile ATM vans to offer all the services available at regular ATMs including withdrawing cash, transferring funds and making deposits.
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Mastercard Advocates Higher Contactless Limits as PIN-Less Transactions Surge
As of February 2020, contactless payments made up approximately 50 percent of Mastercard’s global card-present purchases, excluding the United States. Across the globe the card giant is raisingcontactless limits, either permanently or temporarily on a country by country basis.
4 Things CUs Should Do Now to Help New Digital Users
Demand for contactless payments and digital services is rising among credit union members and other banking customers, according to recent data from Ondot Systems. The article says that issuers can do four things to optimize and improve that support by offering: 1) Instructional videos; 2) Emails with links to instructions on your website; 3) FAQs; and 4) Chat.
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Using Cisco IP Phones? Fix These Critical Vulnerabilities
Cisco has released another batch of fixes for a number of its products. Among the vulnerabilities fixed are critical flaws affecting a variety of Cisco IP phones and Cisco UCS Director and Cisco UCS Director Express for Big Data, its unified infrastructure management solutions for data center operations. Admins are advised to check if their Cisco IP phones in use are affected and, if so, upgrade the firmware.
SANS Security Awareness Work-from-Home Deployment Kit
The SANS Security Awareness Work-From-Home Deployment Kit offers a wide variety of SANS public resources and paid training materials at no cost.
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Three Mistakes Financial Marketers Make with COVID Communications
Now that FIs have moved past initial reactions to the coronavirus crisis, they have an opportunity to address shortcomings in their customer outreach. Common missteps: not giving specific information, sending the same message to everyone, and lack of frequency.
Gear up Your Online Content to Maintain Members’ Trust in a Crisis
The author argues that now is the time to fill your online channels with pertinent information, using these best practices: Plan Content Carefully; Keep All Channels Updated; Make Information Easy to Find; and Watch Your Tone.
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When Opening Accounts in Branches Becomes Impossible
Digital channels, phones and mail are now the main banking options for everything except safe deposits, coins and possibly notarization. Creating a digital onboarding (including account opening) capability is an active project for many FIs right now. Some research has found significant increases in digital account opening satisfaction when a FI’s website or app “prompts the consumer with questions to help select the right product” and “offers a way to compare features and fees of multiple products.”
Advice for Card Issuers Navigating an Uncertain World
The author sats: "As we saw in the Great Recession, a level-headed and data-driven approach to what is happening can serve the credit card program, a credit union’s members, and the health of the credit union as a whole." He goes on to offer 5 tips for card issuers to help them weather the pandemic storm.
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Cloud-Based VPNs Can Ease Network Traffic Overload Due to COVID-19
Remote work will be a big part of any post-coronavirus plan. One approach to scaling VPN capacity is to move to a software-based service - one that is in the cloud and uses subscription licensing. A major problem now is that if an organization's entire workforce needs the VPN, it's difficult to scale up quickly with a hardware-centric solution.
Work from Home, Phase 2: What Comes next for Security?
Phase 1 was all about employee access, network communications confidentiality/integrity, and basic endpoint security. The next phases will move quickly from risk assessment to mitigation. Some security teams are doing home network scans, while others are increasingly focusing on network traffic monitoring of data travelling back-and-forth on VPNs or directly out to SaaS providers and the public cloud.
Jitsi No Cost Full-Featured Video Conferencing
Here is their marketing pitch: "If you want an alternative to Zoom: try Jitsi Meet. It’s encrypted, open source, and you don’t need an account .Jitsi is the best, most secure video conferencing solution available for free to anyone."
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Optimizing the Contact Center in the New Normal
In a recent Cornerstone survey of FI clients, the vast majority reported increases of 20% or more as a result of the pandemic. Anecdotally, many of them are facing volume surges much higher than that. Average “Speed of Answer” (wait time) and abandon rates tripling or worse. Third party overflow call partners, which FIs rely on to handle peaks in volume, are also overwhelmed, which has only compounded the problem. Meanwhile, 75% of FIs report at least partial remote deployment now. The article covers some fundamental best practices in these difficult times.
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