Do you have the e-access features all members want?

What do members expect with electronic access to their credit union? Well, everything of course.  It’s all about banking that’s faster, smarter, easier. Members expect instant access to all their account information.  They expect to be able to do anything and everything electronically that they can do in the branch, and they don’t want to go through lots of steps to access their accounts. Most importantly, members expect that all that they do electronically be safe and secure. 

Here’s a quick breakdown of the basic e-access features that consumers expect:

• High Level of Security

–      Ability to save Trusted Devices

–      Secure delivery of account data

• Budgeting Tools

–      Built-in, seamless budget tools

–      Download capability to Quicken and Mint

• Quick Transfers

–      Ability to transfer funds with very few clicks and touch points

• Member-to-Member Transfers

–      Ability to set up a transfer to another member’s account without requiring account ownership

• Person-to-Person Payments

–      Ability to send money to someone at another financial institution

• Account Alerts

–      Daily balance alert, transaction alerts, account change alerts (e-mail addresses, phone numbers, etc.)

Which brings us to mobile.

Mobile users expect to have basic account access: balances, transaction history, payoff, terms, rates, tax info, and to be able to transfer between accounts. Beyond that, mobile users are starting to expect the same access as they would get on their PC, only on their smartphones:

• Access to Bill Pay
• Access to Check Images
• Open New Accounts
• Access to e-statements 

In addition to those basics, here are other mobile features members expect:

• Ease of use and fewer key strokes

–      Quick transfers most important with mobile

–      Using phone features

·       Shake for balance refresh

·       Slide bar to move between screens

·       GPS to aid with branch, ATM, and shared branch Locations

·       Camera for remote deposit capture

• Push Notifications – Through APPs, push notifications can be used to alert on most anything, including CU news, maintenance, and account data.

• Balance Without Login – Quickly see balances without going through a full login
• Hands-Free Voice Commands
• Ease of access to credit union

–      Click to call

–      Live Chat

–      Texting

–      Set up appointments

• Digital Storage\Lock Box
• Mixing in Social Media
• Passcode\Touch ID integration – Straight login can take several steps; slim that down to Passcode or Touch ID for key items such as balance inquiries and transfers

• Mobile Wallet

• Access to ALL accounts offered by the Credit Union, including Credit Card Administration

–      Card transaction alerts

–      Monitor card balances and transaction history

–      Allow the member set controls around their lifestyle

Electronic Channels: the knowledge pipeline

Along with the member expectations, the credit union is also expecting to use electronic channels to better understand its members and to promote itself through electronic channels to these members.

• Credit Union Staff

–      Use information gathered to aid in getting to know your members

·       Understand where and how they are accessing the credit union

·       Use the information to educate and promote the credit union to the member

• Sales and Marketing in the Apps

–      Informative, effective, but not Intrusive

–      Not just promote, but allow action

Whether it’s via your web site or their smartphones, members expect robust e-access to make daily banking smarter, faster and easier. The more you can meet these expectations, while ensuring the highest levels of security, the more deeply you’ll connect with your members.

David McCullough

Sr. Product Manager

Best practices: a multi-layered approach to securing your network

When it comes to preventing unauthorized access to your mission critical data, there is no one silver bullet solution. To best minimize risk, security Best Practices suggest taking a multi-layered approach that connects together LAN, WAN and Desktop protocols to create the optimum network security for your credit union.

Here are a few proven tips and tactics to employ:

Desktop:

• Insure desktops are running a supported operating system.
• Insure operating system and business application patches are kept up to date.
• Insure business applications used in the organization are current and supported by the vendor.
• Insure business applications are standardized across the organization.
• Insure virus protection software is installed, patched and you receive daily virus signature file updates.
• Establish a user authentication method such as Active Directory to centralize user and security policy administration.
• Establish strong user authentication policy enforcement.
• Establish desktop user policies.
• Business versus personal use.
• Do not open emails or attachments from unknown sources.
• Do not email unencrypted confidential data such as (account numbers, social security numbers, birth dates, etc.)
• Peripheral devices (I.E. CD-ROM, Flash Memory Drives, etc.)
• User’s password should expire periodically forcing him/her to  change it.

Local Area Network (LAN):

• Only office network data connection ports should be active when a user device is connected. Unused network data connection ports should be deactivated at the network switch to prevent an unauthorized person from capturing data packets.
• Credit union business units should be setup on separate “VLANs” to prevent employees from capturing data packets from other business units.  As an example, accounting department may be separated from tellers.
• Wireless:
• Wireless connections should be setup as encrypted using a strong encrypted protocol such as AES 256 bit WPA2 for example.
• SSID should be set not to broadcast thus minimizing an unauthorized user from determining the wireless session exists.
• Users’ authentication should be set up as part of the same centralized authentication method used for desktops such as Active Directory.

Corporate Servers:

• Servers should be physically secured from unauthorized employees and not used as a user desktop.
• Servers should be logically isolated onto their own network VLAN within the organization.
• Servers should be running supported operating systems and patched with latest patches soon after release by the vendor.

Wide Area Network (WAN):

• Firewall:
• Corporate Internet external connections that are “untrusted” should be terminated into a Firewall separated from the internal “trusted” corporate network.
• Third party network vendor connections should be placed on an individual Firewall DMZ port.   Multiple DMZ ports should be established if dealing with multiple third party network connections.
• Internet facing servers such as those used for email and web based services should be placed on a DMZ network port.
• Firewall should be physically and logically secured from unauthorized employees.
• Firewall should log all firewall administrative tasks, VPN authentication and any exceptions encountered with the security access lists.
• Firewall log should be reviewed daily to identify potential fraudulent activity.
• Firewall should alert security/network personnel if established thresholds are reached.

• Intrusion Detection System (IDS) should be deployed at a minimum on the credit union’s Internet connection between the Firewall and the Internet router/switch port. This should be monitored utilizing a third party monitoring service specializing in Firewall management.
• Intrusion Protection System (IPS) should be deployed on the Internet connection between the Firewall and Internet router/switch to mitigate suspicious activity by blocking suspicious traffic to the Firewall.
• Routers:
• Routers should be running a supported version operating system and patched as soon as the vendor releases an update.
• Routers should utilize security access lists to only allow specific data that meets the access list requirements.
• Routers should be physically and logically secured from unauthorized access.  

Connecting you with ideas to maximize your protection is one of our top goals at EPL, and together, these tips and strategies should provide you with a formidable network security solution. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your current network security solution, don’t  hesitate to contact me. 

Larry Linville

SVP of Operations

EPL, Inc.