Flex-Internet CU Matters

Hi everyone!

Sorry there hasn’t been much activity (more like no activity) on the site. Brandon left the company back in August 2006 to bigger and better things and I have been really busy providing value for the clients here and increasing my human life value.

After going through the comments and most of it being spam, I can now focus some attention to the blog. I’m looking forward to providing a lot of value and interacting with the community!

Robert

In recent television game show history this term was used and abused by its ornery British host Anne Robinson. Today this statement could be applied to a surprising amount of Credit Union employees as well. As the security intrusions in the Banking industry have been adequately documented and reported, the recent publication of the results of a true social engineering experiment within a Credit Union are not surprising and should be met with an equal amount of outrage and trepidation.

I believe it is not “if” a Credit Union is compromised but “when.” Daily, as an administrator of several IDS (Intrusion Detection Systems) for our Credit Union clients, I see my fair share of malware and spyware “phoning home” from CU employees’ desktop workstations. Additionally, in recent months we’ve seen an escalation in attempts to “phish” Credit Union members and separate them from their private financial data. We’ve even seen the “de rigeur” encryption of data on the backend being spurned because of the time it takes for a CU employee to deal with the apparent deluge of lost password requests. The metaphorical icing on the cake is the prevalent Credit Union reliance on Microsoft’s notoriously porous browser, Internet Explorer, for in-house web browsing.

In future posts, I will examine why I adamantly feel Education is a powerful countermeasure against these human engineering and phishing attempts. I also hope to offer some security suggestions (some glaringly obvious, others not) which I conceive will be useful for admins, managers, and employees alike. In the meantime, let’s all plug the USB Flash drive we found in the Target parking lot into our home PCs and see what damage ensues…

Recently, we designed a “sister” site for a Credit Union client which was geared toward teens, current youth members, or potential youth members. The design opted for a more non-traditional look with neon pastels and black colors featured prominently site-wide. While the design seems appropriate for such age groups, the content (provided by the Credit Union through our content management tool), possibly does not grab the attention of the youth investors or prospective members as well as it could.

While I don’t believe we need another “MySpace”-type viral experience jammed down young web saavy clients’ throats, I truly have been wondering aloud how to capture the attention of a generation whose attention is increasingly fractured by various entertainment (and hopefully educational) diversions.

As a developer for a company whose niche market includes smaller community-based or employer-based Credit Unions, it is simply not feasible to give away an iPod to each new member ages 16-21 who desposits $100 to begin their membership (though a cool idea). In a time where Credit Union numbers are shrinking , the drive to gather new memberships is integral to the vitality of the institution. Gone are the days when “Little Billy” joins the Credit Union because Mommy and Daddy have been Members for 30 years.

I would be extremely interested in comments regarding this topic and possiblly generating some ideas which would be helpful to developers and Credit Union Managment alike.

Well, we thought we’d throw our metaphorical hats into the blogosphere with our new Credit Union-focused site. As web designers, developers, and long time Credit Union members, we hope to be able to offer some unique slants on the industry as we see it (and not necessarily the way our current employer, a 20-plus year veteran in the data management arena, may view it - obligatory disclaimer, ha). Regardless, we hope you’ll glean something useful from our postings and along the way we intend to learn from your comments and suggestions.

By the way, the site design is in its infancy so expect to see random styles and templates in use. Fear not, it is the content which matters most - so please continue to tune in and participate . . .