Bank tech-trends News
 

February 19 - March 2, 2007

• Hardw26re 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

Hardware News

A company called Revinetix offers desktop and rack-mountable appliances with various capacities, and they all have the ability to create a second copy of backup data on a removable drive for archiving. From the Revinetix management console, you see how the seven drives of this 2U appliance form a volume in a RAID5 configuration to receive backups, while the last drive stores redundant copies and can be removed and sent to an offline vault. From the browser based management console, IT administrators can search and restore files to their original location or another location. The unit can also perform granular backups and restores of Microsoft Exchange servers down to the single message.

Kodak has rolled out the i6015 Check Scanner along with along with image capture and transmission software. The i6015 Check Scanner joins the Kodak i6060 and Kodak i6090 Check Scanners, and Kodak says that the new system improves the management, archiving and communication of deposit items and payment-related information.

A sluggish network can mean upset users, loss of productivity, and big headaches for the IT staff. We will cover some tips for troubleshooting slowdowns in small networks in the upcoming issue of BANK tech-trends - subscribe now.

MagTek®’s ExpressCard 1000 is the industry’s first “ALL-IN-ONE” instant issuance and complete card personalization platform forCredit, Debit, ATM, and Financial Gift Cards designed to fit securely and comfortably within a branch location.

For the first time, card personalization features such as color card-printing, magstripe encoding, smartcard encoding, card embossing, indent printing, and foil tipping have been combined into a single device which provides both the physical and logical security features required to meet the demands of a branch or retailer’s card issuing environment.

Equipped with MagnePrint® card authentication technology (www.magneprint.com), the ExpressCard 1000 offers the capability to capture the card's reference MagnePrint at the time of card issuance so that reference value may be used in conjunction with complementary risk management analytics with card present transactions. The ExpressCard 1000 can be connected as a peripheral to MagTek’s IntelliCAT and MCAPS 3000 PIN selection and instant issuance software suites creating a complete and secure card issuing platform.

For more information on ExpressCard 1000, go to www.magtek.com or call your MagTek sales representative at 800-788-6835.

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ATMs/Kiosks

Korean ATM manufacturer Nautilus Hyosung announced the ACE-Q line of ATMs. They feature a 7-inch LCD screen, and use a 1,000-note removable cassette; and an optional 2,000-note removable cassette can be upgraded to three cassettes. The ACE-Q line is Triple-DES compliant, meets ADA guidelines, and can come equipped with an electronic lock. Advanced functions like check imaging and check cashing also can be added. Nautilus Hyosung also announced an alliance with Infonox that includes plans to offer value-added services on ATMs and kiosks. The Infonox software platform enables advanced functions such as deposit automation, check cashing, bill payment, money transfer and prepaid services.

Network ATM Express, the fastest growing distributor of ATMs in the country, announced that it has cut costs 70% and shaved transaction times from 25 seconds to as low as five seconds using wireless routers from JBM Electronics and AT&T’s wireless data network. The company uses the JBM Electronics' Gateway C250 cellular router which is designed especially for low bandwidth applications such as ATMs.

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New York-based SmartMetric has developed software and a biometric fingerprint card which enable a consumer sending funds online to authenticate the identity of the recipient of the money. The card contains an embedded fingerprint sensor and an EMV-compliant chip. Both the sender of the funds and the recipient must register their fingerprints with SmartMetric. They must then store their fingerprints on a SmartMetric chip card. To authenticate themselves, the sender and the recipient each plug their SmartMetric card into a computer’s USB port and touch the fingerprint sensor on the card. SmartMetric says its technology enables a sender to transfer money from a checking or savings account over the Web directly onto his or her SmartMetric card. The e-cash is stored on the SmartMetric card’s chip. Once the sender has transferred funds onto a SmartMetric card, a message is sent over the Web to the recipient. After the recipient has downloaded the money onto their SmartMetric card, funds can be withdrawn using the card at an ATM.

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Krista Becker, Emerging Payments Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston has published a new industry briefing paper titled "Mobile Phone: The New Way to Pay?" The PDF document covers the issues and opportunities around mobile payments. It is available here: http://www.bos.frb.org/economic/eprg/papers/briefings/mobilephone.pdf

Obopay, a provider of mobile payment services, allows mobile phone subscribers to send money, give gifts, pay each other and make purchases from their mobile phone. They are now targeting teens because their research shows that more than 70 percent of today's youth in the U.S. carry a cell phone and are more likely to carry a cell phone than their wallet or keys. The company is offering parents a 'Sponsored Accounts' feature that permits them to provide each child with an Obopay account linked to his or her own mobile phone, while giving parents tracking and control capabilities.

The cash-in-transit company SecurCash is using a sophisticated RFID (radio frequency identification) tracking program to closely monitor cash shipments end-to-end. The system from Transtrack International and Capturetech makes it possible to track personnel involved, route, transport value, etc. All information is recorded by RFID chips and sensors, relaying the cash tracking information online in real time.

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ByteCrusher Labs announced WindowZones which is a security application that protects your computer against malware by proactively giving applications only the rights they need to run. When you run Internet-facing applications, you work in WindowZones' Safe Zone, which ensures that applications operate with only the rights needed and without the ability to change sensitive Operating System files, system registry, and other system configuration data. Plus because WindowZones works at the access level rather than the detection level, no signature updates are needed. Pricing for WindowZones starts at $29.95.

IT Departments looking for "auto destruct" solutions for their laptops may want to consider services from vendors such as MyLaptopGPS, ZTrace and CyberAngel Security. If a laptop is lost or stolen, a special code is sent over the Internet which causes the data to be copied to a secure location of the user's choosing, and then obliterated from the PC. These solutions communicate over the Internet through software running in the background on the laptop, so the PC has to be online after it is stolen for these services to work. Vericept and also Computrace offer more complex tracking and protection schemes.

Banks in Massachusetts may want to contact Attorney General Martha Coakley and offer their support for new legislation under consideration. According to the Wall Street Journal, lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering new laws that would put the onus for paying for credit/debit card breaches on retailers, rather than issuers. Some analysts say that the new laws, in themselves, won't prevent data breaches such as the well publicized and massive TJX breach, but it will at least force the responsible parties to pay for their lack of security.

MAGENSA™ is a trusted verification authority (TVA) that provides real-time remote-hosted credential authentication services. These services enable banks, businesses, and government agencies to integrate PCI DSS and FFIEC multi-factor authentication and end-to-end data encryption capabilities into their existing processing environments without the need for substantial financial investments or massive changes to the existing infrastructure.

Specifically tailored to enhance the security of internet banking and ATM applications, MAGENSA delivers unprecedented security and authentication using the familiar magstripe card credentials (secure tokens) that a bank has already issued to its customers. MAGENSA is powered by the trusted and proven card authentication technology known as MagnePrint® (www.magneprint.com). MagnePrint differentiates a customers’ authentic magstripe card from an altered or counterfeit version, transforming the traditional magstripe card into a powerful security token.

MAGENSA’s Secure Data Center (SDC), a reliable 24x7 operations center that is maintained 365 days a year, simplifies the integration of data decryption and MagnePrint scoring into existing websites, and allows for data federation across institutional domains.

For more information on MAGENSA, please visit www.magensa.net or call 877.MAGENSA.

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SECURITY: 

Finding a Balance between Security and Convenience

Arcot - http://www.arcot.com   Read R. 'Doc' Vaidhyanathan's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Arcot.pdf

Code Green Networks - http://www.codegreennetworks.com   Read Chip Hay's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/CGN.pdf

Comodo - http://www.comodogroup.com   Read Andrew J. Pynes' comments:     http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Comodo.pdf

Corillian - http://www.corillian.com   Read Greg Hughes' comments:    http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Corillian.pdf

Digital Resolve - http://www.digital-resolve.net Read Dennis Maicon's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/DigitalResolve.pdf

e-DMZ Security - http://www.e-dmzsecurity.com   Read Kris Zupan's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/e-DMZ.pdf

Intrusion - http://www.intrusion.com   Read Jay Barbour's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Intrusion.pdf

MagTek - http://www.magtek.com   Read Kiran Gandhi's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/MagTek.pdf

Network Armor - http://www.networkarmor.com   Read Stephen Goldsby's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/NetworkArmor.pdf

Perimeter Internetworking - http://www.perimeterusa.com   Read Kevin Prince's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Perimeter.pdf

RSA Security - http://www.rsasecurity.com   Read Marc Gaffan's comments:     http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/RSA.pdf

SecureWorks - http://www.secureworks.com   Read Jon Ramsey's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/SecureWorks.pdf

TriGeo Network Security - http://www.trigeo.com   Read Michelle Dickman's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/TriGeo.pdf

WhiteHat Security - http://www.whitehatsec.com   Read Jeremiah Grossman's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/WhiteHat.pdf

WinMagic - http://www.winmagic.com   Read Joseph Belsanti's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/WinMagic.pdf

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Stamford, CT-based research firm BetterBuyDesign says that their research shows that many financial institutions generate about a 11% profit on their network-branded gift card programs. They believe that many simply offer it as a convenience, and not a money maker. Payroll cards, however, are a different story. The firm notes that these programs can generate profits in the 30 – 40% range.

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Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions have traditionally been considered very safe. However, some security experts believe that ACH fraud will grow as ACH expands beyond its traditional roles. They note that a new generation of ACH transactions, such as point-of-purchase conversion of paper checks into electronic transactions and online banking bill payments will attract fraudsters. Additional issues may arise after upcoming 16, when merchants can begin retaining paper checks after converting them to electronic files, rather than returning checks to consumers. The bottom line is that banks will need to monitor ACH transactions more closely in the future.

According to research by Javelin Strategy & Research, expedited bill payment may be turning into more of a service to reinforce customer relationships than a source of revenue. Expedited bill payment fees, sometimes called convenience fees, are fees charged for last-minute bill payments on the grounds that they allow consumers to avoid even higher late fees from service providers. Downward pressure on convenience fee pricing is coming primarily from financial institutions moving into the expedited bill pay market and offering the service at no or very low cost as a means to extend relationships with existing customers.

Safeguard Internet Banking against Authentication Attacks and Phishing

Today's consumers are demanding financial institutions, and for that matter any organization of any size that provides a logon page to personal and business information, deliver unquestionable security whilst maintaining an ease of use balance.

myBiometrix efficiently meets and exceeds these criteria and that of FFIEC guidelines through our proprietary interface that addresses the needs of both Consumer and Provider in securing transacting online:

   • Authenticating the consumer (verifying who is accessing information by who they are not what they have)
   • Verifying the providers site (ensuring a Phishing episode is not being perpetrated).
   • Confirming the source of the transaction (originating PC)
In other words, all aspects of the transaction are secured.

myBiometrix leverages an array of foreground and background technology presented through an intuitive user interface that provides multi-factor “personal trait” authentication.

   • irrefutably authenticates “personally” to a website using traits including
   • prevent others from falsely using the owners credentials to log on
   • eliminating the growing incidence of Phishing and Pharming attacks
   • eliminating Key Logger exposure as the keyboard is not used
   • eliminating the need to remember or write down pass-phrases

myBiometrix authenticates through a range of methods including:

   • Finger recognition
   • Voice recognition
   • Face recognition
   • Biometric Smart Card
   • Geometrical code
   • Others…

myBiometrix is a scaleable solution that can be hosted by us as a Managed Service or run In-House. Delivering irrefutable authentication and security and monitoring mechanisms, whilst maintaining a practical usability balance, myBiometrix conveys a holistic approach that is a world leader in irrefutable Authentication and Verification.

Collaboration and Reseller enquiries are welcomed for our range of proprietary Biometric solutions.

LEARN MORE ABOUT myBiometrix:

 www.myBiometrix.com

OR CONTACT US DIRECTLY AT:

busdev@myBiometrix.com

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Internet Access

Iridium Satellite has unveiled an initiative called Iridium Next to build a next-generation network, or "constellation," of satellites. The current system, consisting of 66 satellites that form a mesh network, provides a baseline speed of only 2.4Kbps but the next generation will deliver speeds up to 10Mbps and provide a true broadband data experience. Additionally, the next-generation system will be totally based on IP (Internet Protocol). Currently, Iridium sells more data modems than handsets, and with the next generation it hopes to bring those modems down to a single chip that can be built into more devices.

Selecting a new telephone system can be a daunting task. With so many options available, narrowing down the right choices may seem impossible. VendorGuru.com is one website that can help choose an appropriate vendor. They also offer a whitepaper, entitled "Taming Telephony: Avoiding Common Mistakes in Choosing a Vendor" that places specific focus on the need to prepare ahead of time and become knowledgeable of your specific needs before choosing a solution.

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Call Centers

According to the recent “Call Center Management Review: 2006 Contact Center Customer-Facing Technologies Survey Report,” busy call centers should strongly consider implementing a virtual queuing tool. Virtual queuing provides callers who are facing a hold time the option of choosing a callback instead of waiting on the line. The virtual queuing system inserts a virtual place holder in the queue that will save the caller’s place. As a result, the caller can hang up and go about their business. When the virtual placeholder approaches the front of the queue, the automated system calls the customer back and then transfers them to the next available agent.

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