Your source for the latest technology information of interest to community banks across America.
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and stay on top of the latest technology trends in Hardware, Software, ATMs, Biometrics, Wireless, Online Banking, Marketing, Security, Internet Access and Call Centers.
Huawei's Tecal ES3000 PCIe SSDs (solid state drives) features a unique architecture that delivers very high performance specifications. The full-height half-length card comes in large capacities of 400 GB, 800 GB, 1.2 TB, and 2.4 TB. It also supports TRIM to increase recovery efficiency and reduce wear. TRIM allows an operating system to inform an SSD which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally.
Microsoft has developed a backup power system that uses standard lithium-ion batteries like those found in power tools and electric cars. The software giant has submitted the specifications for its Local Energy Storage system to the Open Compute Project, which will allow equipment vendors to use their design and manufacture it for resale. The LES can replace traditional UPSes (Uninterruptible Power Supplies), which currently use bulky lead acid batteries, for providing backup power to servers and other IT gear, Microsoft said. The batteries are hot-swappable, meaning they can be replaced without shutting down servers, and LES is suitable for data centers of all sizes, including a data center closet with only a few servers.
|
Hardware Section Sponsored by
MVi |
Software Updates
Fair Isaac is piloting a new credit scoring system that uses alternative data that should make it easier for the millions of Americans that are currently unable to get credit cards or loans because they do not have enough credit history to generate a score. The FICO score will be generated with the help of property records, telecommunications and utility information. The pilot program is currently being offered by FICO, LexisNexis and Equifax. Twelve of the largest card issuers are currently taking part in the program, which enables them to receive an additional FICO score that they can use to extend credit to millions more people, the companies added.
VMTurbo says that their Demand-Driven Control platform provides real-time, automatable recommendations to assure virtual machine application performance while maximizing utilization. The software helps admins understand demand from application workloads, containers, network connectivity flow and I/O intensive events on virtual desktops as well as QoS and performance requirements. VMTurbo offers support for Hyper-V and VMware.
|
Software Section Sponsored by
Raddon Financial Group (RFG) |
The ATM working committee of the EMV Migration Forum has released a new white paper that provides guidance for ATM deployers considering adding the facility for PIN change at the ATM. While the paper, "Implementing EMV at the ATM: PIN Change at the ATM," notes that PIN change at the ATM is not mandated by any of the payment networks, this service will provide a convenient way for an issuer to deliver PIN change and PIN unblock issuer scripts to a chip card.
The ATM Industry Association (ATMIA) announced that it has created a new level of membership specifically for financial institutions. One of the objectives of the new level is to allow for more individual members, which means that numerous bank departments can now become engaged in ATMIA activities and resources. Committee groups and Best Practices address ATM-related issues and processes for security, risk management, business development, and compliance, as well as operations.
|
ATMs/Kiosks Sponsored by
Heritage Industries |
Some analysts believe that the biggest use for financial apps on wearable devices will not be mobile payments, but instead will be alerts. They contend that the tiny screens on smartwatches are ideal for checking balances, receiving fraud alerts and keeping track of payments due. In other words, effectively delivering timely information outside of the login.
In a related story, Gartner is predicting that the rollout of the Apple Pay-supporting Apple Watch will provide about a 5 percent boost in Apple Pay adoption numbers. The research firm believes that mobile payments will entail a "long-evolving, multi-year rollout." One reason is that support for Apple Pay is still only available on a small percentage of the millions of terminals in the U.S. While there have been some usage and fraud problems with Apple Pay, Phoenix Marketing International calculates the user base of Apple Pay at 12 million individuals.
According to ThreatTrack Security, 1 in 3 security professionals recommend negotiating with cybercriminals for the return of stolen data or the restoration of encrypted files. However, security professionals within the healthcare and financial services sectors were least likely to recommend negotiating with cyber-extortionists with 92% and 80%, respectively, saying "No". About a quarter said that organizations should set aside funds (often Bitcoins) for negotiating with cybercriminals who encrypt or threaten to sell their pilfered data. Asked what types of data for which they would be willing to negotiate with cybercriminals:
• 50% said they would never negotiate
• 37% said Employee Data
• 36% said Customer Data
• 30% said Intellectual Property
• 26% said Confidential Executive Communications
• 22% said Financial Data
Macro-based malware has not been very popular for years - ever since Microsoft decided that "Disable all macros with notification" should be the default setting in Access, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Visio, and Word. Yet both Microsoft and Trend Micro are reporting a sharp uptick in macro-based malware. Unsolicited emails with macro-based malware typically make use of social engineering lures like remittance and invoice notifications, tax and payment slips, payment confirmations, purchase orders, etc. If the correct settings are in place, an alert will inform the user that macros need to be enabled after trying to open the file, but enterprising cybercriminals will often provide step-by-step instructions on how to enable macros, or users will click on a pop-up that asks to Enable Content.
Security:
Meeting the Challenges of Attacks, Breaches & Compliance
 |
|
CatchFire Creative - http://catchfirecreative.com
Read Drew Schulthess' comments: https://www.banktt.com/CatchFire.pdf |
 |
 |
|
Easy Solutions - http://www.easysol.net
Read Daniel Ingevaldson's comments: https://www.banktt.com/EasySolutions.pdf |
 |
|
eScope Solutions - http://www.escope.net
Read Dean Marshall's comments: https://www.banktt.com/eScope.pdf |
 |
|
Horsetail Technologies - http://www.horsetailtech.com
Read Mark Berman's comments: https://www.banktt.com/Horsetail.pdf |
 |
|
HyTrust - http://www.hytrust.com
Read Hemma Prafullchandra's comments: https://www.banktt.com/HyTrust.pdf |
 |
|
|
|
Info@Risk - http://www.infoatrisk.com
Read David Trepp's comments: //www.banktt.com/images/LR/Info@risk_sec15.pdf" target="_blank" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(51, 51, 153); font-weight: bold;">https://www.banktt.com/This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |
 |
|
Ingalls Information Security - http://www.iinfosec.com
Read Russell “Rusty” Wilson's comments: https://www.banktt.com/Ingalls.pdf |
 |
 |
 |
|
Hyland Software - http://www.onbase.com
Read Steve Comer's comments: https://www.banktt.com/OnBase.pdf |
 |
|
PhishLabs - http://www.phishlabs.com
Read Stacy Shelley's comments: https://www.banktt.com/PhishLabs.pdf |
 |
 |
|
SilverSky - http://www.silversky.com
Read Andrew Jaquith's comments: https://www.banktt.com/SilverSky.pdf |
 |
 |
About a third of millennials do not think they will need a financial institution in their lives in the next five years, according to the Future of Finance report by Goldman Sachs. The firm's Millennial Disruption Index found that 73% of millennials are more excited about new offerings in the financial services space from the likes of Google, Apple and Amazon. Moreover, 71% would rather go to the dentist than listen to what FIs have to say! They conclude that this age group is concerned with convenience, simplicity and innovation - it looks like these will be the key marketing and technology investment focal points going forward.
Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
FIME announced a new EMV consulting kit for small to medium sized banks. They say that their EMV Starter Kit for Issuers is an out-of-the-box consulting services package that includes all of the key components needed to effectively issue EMV chip cards (any combination of contact, contactless, credit or debit EMV chip cards). Banks have the option to customize their consulting kit by adding on FIME’s test tools and testing and certification services.
Microsoft has established a new company called Microsoft Payments which recently received a license from the State of Idaho Department of Finance to serve as a venue for handling and transferring money. There are also reports that the software giant has filed for similar licenses in the remaining states in the U.S. Some observers believe that Microsoft’s service won’t simply be a money transmitter, but rather it will also provide and sell prepaid debit cards. There are also numerous reports that Windows 10 will bring in support for host card emulation (HCE) systems, a key component of the mobile payment experience that can provide a more secure mobile payment environment.
Palo Alto Networks is introducing a service dubbed AutoFocus which is an add-on to the company’s existing cloud-based service WildFire that constantly analyzes all its customers’ networks for malware and exploits and downloads new rules every 15 minutes to Palo Alto hardware to automatically block the new threats it finds. The AutoFocus dashboard supplies information about flagged attacks with tags that show whether they come from a particular group or whether they are part of a larger campaign against a particular industry.
Interactive Intelligence launched its latest cloud services called PureCloud Collaborate and PureCloud Communicate. In addition to IP PBX capabilities, other features offered include searchable employee profile information, instant messaging, multi-user chat rooms, multi-party video conferencing, and desktop sharing to help increase employee productivity. The company offers support for multiple voice, video and mobile endpoints.
Small contact centers (those with fewer than 50 agents) make up the fastest growing segment of contact centers. Small centers often have to hire people who can handle the broadest range of contacts e.g., multiple languages and different channels such as email and chat. Of course that often means that multilingual and multi-skilled agents require extra recruiting efforts and pay. Flexibility in skill sets also permits your center to utilize the “envelope strategy” whereby the center schedules enough agents to handle both the call load and other types of work, creating an "envelope" within which work is prioritized. When incoming volumes surge, all agents handle contacts; when it is light, some agents are reassigned to other tasks that they are qualified to handle.
Info@Risk