BANK tech-trends News
 

September 14, 2009 - September 18, 2009

• Hardware 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

Adaptec is the latest vendor to get into the hot solid state drive (SSD) market with the introduction of an I/O controller that speeds performance by as much 5x over traditional controller implementations. The MaxIQ SSD Performance Cache is a PCI-e based controller that uses Intel X25-E single level cell SSDs to offer 20,000 IOPs and 1.2GBps throughput. When used in a server and in the data path between server and storage the MaxIQ will speed performance for database applications, front end Web servers and virtual environments.

Dell and Brocade confirmed their expanded relationship with Dell's plan to market Brocade FibreChannel host bus adapters and converged network adapters, FibreChannel over Ethernet (FCoE) switches and Ethernet switching products. In addition to Dell reselling more Brocade product, the companies said they also intend to develop a data center infrastructure and optimization system enabled by virtualization.

Back to Top

Back to Top

ATMs/Kiosks

The ATM Industry Association has published a list of best practices for ATM operating software with the goal being to help ATMIA customers establish a comprehensive ATM software security policy. The scope of the manual covers governance of all ATM software, from ATM plugs to the host system. Plus, the ATM Software Security Best Practices Guide offers a checklist of best practice recommendations.

A Los Angeles city councilman is calling for ATMs in the city to be fitted with PIN "duress code" systems that would let users covertly notify police in case of an emergency. The councilman says that at least one software manufacturer has already developed a promising system, a covert code that ATM users can use to alert authorities to trouble. Under the system, an ATM user could enter the card's PIN in reverse order. The cash would still be disbursed, so as not to alert the robber, but police would be notified that a robbery was in progress and where. He claims that such a system would cost ATM deployers approximately $25 per machine to install.

Back to Top

Lenovo's VeriFace application uses your laptop's webcam to automatically unlock your computer when your face is in front of it. However, when one group tested it, they found that a photo of the laptop's owner worked just as well. Taking a picture on the registered owner and waving the phone's screen in front of the G550 laptop's webcam caused the system to unlock. All it required was a bit of phone waving to minimize reflections. The researchers concluded that there seems to be no built-in mechanism to tell a live face from a photo of one.

Back to Top

A new report from Aite Group reveals that more than one-third of U.S. small businesses would be willing to consider using mobile banking if it were offered by their primary institution, and 27% would even be willing to pay for the service. The report notes that to date, financial institutions' failure to offer mobile banking services to small businesses has not only resulted in lost potential revenues, but also missed opportunities to deepen relationships and achieve greater cross-selling success with this important segment. The researchers conclude that small businesses are looking for a host of extra functionalities above and beyond the requirements of vanilla mobile banking, such as wire approvals and positive pay.

Analysis and forecasting firm ABI Research recently released its first m-banking report card and in it they state that mobile banking's reach in the U.S. isn't as good as it could be. They say that if financial institutions want mobile banking to be ubiquitous and available to as many consumers as possible, they will have to promote text messaging in particular as the method of choice. The authors conclude that "if you are in the retail banking business and you don't have a link - or at least a list of your mobile banking services - on your website's homepage, then you are undermining your whole effort. Discoverability is critically important."

Back to Top

According to a study by Dimensional Research, traditional anti-malware tools have become so inefficient at handling current threats that most IT administrators have considered throwing them out altogether. The survey reveals that 89 percent of respondents are using traditional anti-malware tools, but 74 percent say they are "not confident" in the effectiveness of those tools. Only 20 percent of security pros said they are confident in the technology. Perhaps this is why Symantec is betting heavily that program behavior is the future battlefront of security and they are adding a behavioral engine called Quorum to both the basic Norton AntiVirus 2010 and the more robust Norton Internet Security 2010.

While it is highly advisable to never use a public computer to log in to your online banking website, if you must do so there are some tricks that you can employ to help circumvent any key loggers that may be present on the machine. Security blogger Ian Saxon outlined the "revised Vesik method" for entering passwords:


Step 1. Click in the password box and type three random characters, mixing upper and lower case, numbers, etc.

Step 2. Use your mouse or the Shift and arrow keys to select the characters you just typed. Then type three more random characters or a portion of your password, replacing the characters you typed previously.

Step 3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 a few times. The more often you repeat the process, the harder it will be for an intruder to discern your password when examining the keylogger file.

Step 4. Click to the left or right of your password segment and follow steps 1 to 3 to add a few more characters. Then add a few more characters of your password on each cycle until your entire password is in the password box. Then sign in to the site.

Step 5. Don't simply type some random characters, backspace over it, and then enter your real password. Many keyloggers compensate for backspacing but can't keep track of characters you select and overtype.

Back to Top

Core Systems:

Helping Banks Focus on Opportunities

Fidelity Information Services - http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com   Read Anthony Jabbour's comments:   http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/FIS.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.fiserv.com Read Fiserv's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/Fiserv.pdf

Fiserv - http://www.opensolutions.com Read David Mitchell's comments: http://www.banktt.com/roundtable/OSI.pdf

Back to Top

There are more than 26 million small businesses in the U.S., but “under-banked businesses” tend to be overlooked and underserved by many financial institutions. Under-banked businesses (UBBs) have not yet established a business banking account: they hide in the consumer banking platforms, possibly paying lower account maintenance fees, but eventually need specialized services to grow. Javelin Strategy and Research believes that financial institutions must innovate and refine their business strategy in order to help small businesses survive and expand. By marketing to and servicing UBBs, they say that banks can deliver value-added features and services that help these firms compete and grow into a mutually beneficial relationship.

Back to Top

According to a 2009 report from ForeSee, "Website Functionality" is a primary driver of online user satisfaction. They recommend that organizations beef up the "usefulness and variety of website features" on their websites. Some options that banks may want to consider for adding interactivity to their website include polls, surveys, contests, chat and videos.

According to Forrester Research, website visitors rate financial calculators as one of the most helpful tools in their decision-making process. San Diego-based LeadFusion offers banks their CALCULATORS platform that spans across more than 150 topics and 18 categories. The software offers real-time profiling and segmentation to qualify and direct visitors through a series of next-steps based on their data inputs and financial calculations. Plus it permits you to track visits, clicks, page views and overall usage.

Back to Top

Qwest is deploying equipment that will allow the carrier to deliver data at 100Gb per second (Gbps) all the way across its network to a customer's location. Qwest, the third-largest U.S. regional carrier, is using the Alcatel-Lucent equipment in a network build out that will continue through 2010. The gear will be deployed in the backbone as well as the edge of the carrier's network so Qwest eventually can sell enterprise customers 100-Gigabit Ethernet connections.

The recent ITEXPO conference handed out their “Best of Show” awards recognizing innovative technology and forward-looking feature sets. The following companies and their products were recipients:

Best Service Provider Solution:
AireSpring
Broadvox
Dialexia Communications

Best Large Enterprise Solution:
Aastra
Aculab
Interactive Intelligence

Best SMB Solution:
Aksys Networks
FaxBack
inVox

Best Call Center Offering:
CallFire
KnoahSoft

Most Innovative Product:
Ecessa
HD Communications
Yealink

Best of Open Source:
Digium
Xorcom

Back to Top

Connecticut-based Coordinated Systems is a call monitoring software development company established in 1972. Its flagship product, Virtual Observer (VO), is a call recording and quality assurance solution. The company offers selective recording which is a call recording process whereby a call center chooses to record a sampling of calls as opposed to logging every call. Selective recording is labor and cost efficient because fewer recordings yield a cleaner queue of calls to evaluate and less storage space is needed.

Back to Top