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Hybrid Mesh Firewall Platforms Gain Interest as Management Challenges Intensify
Firewall vendors that offer multiple form factors for their firewalls are bringing all these different firewalls together under a single, centralized management interface. A so-called hybrid mesh firewall platform is a centralized management system that oversees different types of firewalls, including on-prem, firewall-as-a-service, and cloud. This emerging approach is different from network security policy management (NSPM) platforms from vendors such as Firemon or Tupin, because hybrid mesh firewalls are single-vendor platforms and NSPMs are a management overlay that can handle firewalls from multiple vendors.
Kingston IronKey Keypad 200C Hardware-Encrypted USB Type-C Drive Released
Kingston Digital Europe has launched the Kingston IronKey Keypad 200C, a hardware-encrypted USB Type-C drive. KP200C offers FIPS 140-3 Level 3 (Pending) certified military-grade security in an OS-independent alphanumeric keypad for easy-to-use PIN access. It also incorporates XTS-AES 256-bit hardware-based encryption with Brute Force password attack protection and BadUSB protection with digitally signed firmware.
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Dell Announces Generative AI Solutions
Dell Technologies is the latest IT vendor to jump on the generative AI bandwagon with a range of new AI offerings that span its hardware, software and services lineup. The new offerings also include professional services to help organizations determine where and how to best use generative AI services. Dell Generative AI Solutions are certified to run on Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell PowerScale scale-out storage, Dell ECS enterprise object storage, and a broad set of services, delivering generative AI solutions from desktops to core data centers, edge locations and public clouds.
18 Microsoft Teams Apps for Content Collaboration and Management
Hundreds of apps are available for Microsoft Teams that make it easier to get work done without leaving the Teams interface. Some are Microsoft apps, but many are third-party apps that integrate popular services into Teams. This article looks at 18 popular Teams apps that help you collaborate on documents, notes, projects, or other content.
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Cardless ATM Market to Reach $5.2B
The cardless ATM market is projected to grow to $5.2 billion by 2031, according to research from ResearchandMarkets.com. With this technology, consumers can use ATMs without a physical card through tools such as a banking app or a digital wallet.
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Mobile Banking Apps Disappoint Small Businesses — Here’s How
FIs often use a consumer mobile banking app — or a glorified version of it — to serve small businesses. However this article states that many businesses are seeking more business-friendly features that are missing from consumer apps such as: cash flow reports, robust function for searching transactions, and the ability to aggregate relationships at other financial providers into the management tools. The article suggests using application programming interfaces to add these types of functions to apps without having to engage in custom development.
Contactless and Mobile Wallets Are Gaining Ground Among Debit Users
Consumer affinity for in-person transactions that reduce points of contact are taking hold as contactless payments made with debit cards swelled to 16% of the U.S. card-present share last year from 8% in 2021. It’s a similar story with debit cards used with mobile wallets. Their use increased from 5% of the transaction mix to 10% in 2022, according to the 2023 Debit Issuer Study from Pulse. The increase in debit use in mobile wallets is likely a result of greater consumer awareness and an increase in merchants equipped with wallet-enabled payment terminals, Pulse says.
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TransUnion Analysis Finds Synthetic Identity Fraud Growing
Synthetic fraud is the use of personally identifiable information (PII) to fabricate a person or entity in order to commit a dishonest act for personal or financial gain. In the first half of 2023, U.S. auto lenders saw an increase in total synthetic identity exposure, reaching $1.8 billion.1 This represents a 38% rise year-over-year (YoY) and marks the second consecutive year of increased exposure in the auto finance industry.
Why Is Check Fraud Suddenly Rampant?
The check is fading away as a consumer payment method – the number of checks collected by the Federal Reserve annually has plummeted 82% over the last 30 years. Last year, FIs issued about 680,000 reports of check fraud, nearly double what they reported in 2021. And one expert predicted total check fraud will hit $24 billion in losses this year, roughly twice what it was just five years ago. Why is check fraud suddenly rampant? The Fed concludes that the answer is opportunity. It’s a low-tech and relatively easy crime to pull off, and there is still a sizeable pool of potential victims.
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4 Ways FIs Can Turbocharge Financial Wellness Marketing
FIs often provide financial wellness advice through blog posts, online courses or newsletters. However, getting people to use this content is a challenge even though more than half of consumers — 58% — say they would switch to an FI that offers financial health features such as helping them budget smarter and save more, according to a survey commissioned by Personetics. This article covers some best practices for increasing engagement in financial wellness programs.
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Online Banking/E-Commerce/Website Design
PULSE Study Finds Debit Issuers Focused on Digital Payments
With consumers favoring seamless digital experiences and mobile capabilities, debit card issuers are seeking to keep pace by prioritizing cardholder experience, according to a PULSE study. More than one-third of respondents (35%) reported accelerating the rollout of new digital capabilities in 2022, with an emphasis on self-service features. Many issuers are investing in a broad range of mobile-app capabilities that allow consumers to perform functions such as ordering, activating, freezing or unfreezing a debit card.
Mastercard Launches CBDC Partner Program
Mastercard has put together a central bank digital currency partner program comprised of firms from across the ecosystem, including Ripple and Consensys. The vast majority of central banks are engaged in some form of work on CBDCs, and four retail versions are already in full live circulation, according to the Bank for International Settlements.
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Private Network Adoption Grows as Organizations Seek Greater Control and Security
Organizations are turning to private networks to enhance security and resiliency, according to Spirent. A market survey reveals that in addition to security and network resiliency drivers, organizations have boosted their service level requirements which many feel are better when using private networking, The market for private networking is forecasted to reach $7.7 billion by 2027.
Lumen Unveils First NaaS Offering
Lumen Technologies has debuted its first and flagship service for its network-as-a-service (NaaS) platform – Internet-on-Demand – a move the company claims will “disrupt the telecom industry.” Internet-on-Demand will allow organizations to readily connect to Lumen’s network, either through a digital portal or via an application program interface (API). The connection can be made at a port-enabled business location or a public data center. Once customers are connected, they can use Internet-on-Demand at speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 1-gig all the way up to 10 Gbps.
VMware NSX+ Centralizes Cloud Networking and Security for Multicloud Environments
VMware customers that have both on-prem and cloud-based architecture can now manage networking and security for both in a single management console. NSX+ is new cloud-managed service that’s geared for multicloud environments and is designed to enable consistent network and security operations, centralized security policy management, network and application visibility, and network detection and response. This latest evolution of VMware's core networking package will be available to current NSX customers as an upgrade and to new customers as both a free trial and a paid offering.
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The Promise of Generative AI: New, Flexible Consumer Experiences
The author insists that there's real potential for a new era of consumer service with generative AI because it "excels in providing efficient and personalized experiences." He proceeds to make his case for Generative AI in the contact center and provides a real world case study of its benefits.
The Pros and Cons of Virtual Queues
Virtual queue technologies enable callers to hang up and receive a return call without losing their place in the queue. This article states that used in the right way and for the right reasons, virtual queuing technologies can be a big help, both internally and with the user experience. However, it also notes that virtual queues are not, and cannot be, the sole answer to chronic staffing mismatches. It concludes that you use callbacks when and where they work well, but use them as sparingly as possible.
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