Bank sends email to wrong Gmail account: Who's at fault?

We all know that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. You’ve just done something (cut a wire, deleted a file, clicked the wrong button, etc.) and immediately realized it was a mistake. An employee at Rocky Mountain Bank likely felt this sensation when they sent confidential account information to the wrong Gmail account.

Account information sent to wrong Gmail address

According to various news reports and the court filing, a customer of Rocky Mountain Bank in Wyoming asked a bank employee to email loan statements to a third-party representative. Unfortunately, the bank employee sent the information to the wrong Gmail address. To make matters worse, the data file attached to the erroneously-sent email contained confidential information on 1,325 accounts of other customers. The file included names, addresses, tax identification numbers, and loan information.

After discovering the mistake, Rocky Mountain Bank personnel tried to recall the email, without success. They also sent a follow-up message to the recipient, instructing them to delete the message and attachment without opening it and requesting that he or she contact the bank to discuss their actions. The bank also contacted Google to determine if the account was active or dormant, and what could be done to prevent the data from being disclosed.

Google declined to provide any information about the Gmail account in question without a court order. Rocky Mountain Bank filed suit to force the disclosure of account information and asked the Court to seal the case. On September 18, 2009, a federal judge denied the bank’s request to seal the case.

(For the rest of the story: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/itdojo/?p=1031&tag=nl.e099.dl090930&tag=nl.e099 )

Red Bluff woman prevails in bank protest

Ann Minch's YouTube revolt against Bank of America was victorious. Minch was contacted Friday by a Bank of America executive, who made her a deal.

The bank executive verbally agreed to cut her rate from 30 percent to 12.99 percent, where it was in January before it was increased, Minch said.

Upset that the bank had raised her interest rate, the 46-year-old Red Bluff resident vented her outrage Sept. 8 on YouTube, vowing to stop making payments on the card. The video has received more than 230,000 Web hits.

Minch broke news of the deal Saturday on YouTube in a video titled "Debtors Update: Bank of America Responds!!!" The six-minute clip had generated about 1,000 views by Monday afternoon.

Minch said she was contacted by Bank of America's Jeff Crawford, who asked why she produced the first video. "He was very polite," Minch said on YouTube. "He didn't make any demands about pulling down the YouTube video."

Initially, Crawford offered to drop the rate to 16.99 percent. But he reconsidered after Minch told him Bank of America has been allowed to borrow money virtually interest-free from the federal government.

(Read the rest of the story at: http://www.redding.com/news/2009/sep/22/red-bluff-woman-prevails-in-bank-protest/)

GPS Could Lead to Home Invasion

A couple of weeks ago someone had their car broken into while they were at a football game. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house.

The thieves knew the owners were at the football game, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GP S were stolen.

FBI report: Most bank robbers get away with it

The FBI's annual report on bank robberies shows that the feds recovered only a small portion of stolen loot and identified just 40 percent of the perpetrators in the 6,700 bank heists last year.
Of the $61.6 million in cash stolen, only about 19 percent - $8.9 million - was recovered.

Although the report does not reveal the arrest rate, it does show that just 3,342 of the 8,393 crooks known to be involved in the robberies were identified. Of those identified, 43 percent were determined to be narcotics users and 19 percent had previously been convicted of a bank-related crime.

The South saw the most robberies - 2,100 - followed by the West, with 1,857.

Banks in metropolitan areas claimed the highest number of heists - 3,388 - with small cities or towns following, with 2,189.

In all, bank-related crime in 2008 was slightly below that reported in 2007. [Read story at Scripps Howard News/by Lisa Hoffman].

At Look at Mt. Rushmore From The Canadian Side

How do I use Prey to help recover a stolen laptop?

Laptops are stolen all of the time. And recovering a stolen laptop is made very difficult when steps have not been taken to help this task get accomplished. Prey is an open source application, available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, that can help you out when your laptop is stolen. Prey takes an ingenious approach to laptop recovery; because once it is installed, it will send timed reports to a configured email address containing information describing its whereabouts.

The information collected includes:

> Status of the computer
> List of running programs and active connections
> Detailed network and WI-FI report
> Screenshot of running desktop
> A picture of the thief (if the stolen laptop is equipped with a Webcam)

Of course you are probably thinking this is a lot of information to be sending out, especially since, with this setup, your laptop will be sending out this information even when the laptop isn’t stolen. Ah, but the creators have thought of that as well.

You can configure Prey to only send out the information if it finds a certain Web URL that you created in the event of the laptop being stolen. We’ll address that in a bit. First, let’s look at how to get the program and install it.

Read more about Prey at: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/window-on-windows/?p=1543&tag=nl.e064

Internet Criminals Stepping Up Attacks

Internet criminals are stepping up their targeting of small- and mid-sized companies because they have less sophisticated security than larger companies, a Federal official told the publication.

About 87% of data breaches could be thwarted with simple-to-intermediate preventive measures, said a Department of Homeland Security official.

Cybercrime has cost the nation nearly $8 billion, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, told the committee.

Data relating to more than 130 million credit and debit cards have been stolen from corporations, the publication said.

Open Solutions Takes Two-Factor to Teller Line

Open Solutions Inc. is now offering users of its flagship core technology systems a two-factor authentication system for use at the teller line.

Using the Veri-Fast solution, members swipe their ATM/debit card, enter their PIN number and once verified, the software instantly retrieves the relationship profile.

The company said that in addition to reducing fraud, Veri-Fast boosts service and efficiencies by automating the retrieval of accountholder files and eliminating teller keystrokes.

Veri-Fast is being offered to financial institutions that run on The Complete Credit Union and The Complete Banking Solution core applications and can be customized to integrate with other core platforms, the company said.

FCU Embezzler Went More Than Four Years Without Discovery

Melissa Laliberte, former bookkeeper and convicted embezzler for the now defunct Meriden Franco American Federal Credit Union, went more than four years before anyone realized the extent of her theft.

According to court documents and NCUA records, Laliberte embezzled almost $744,000 from the credit union between January 2004 and July of 2008, when the NCUA closed the institution. At the time of the its closure, Meriden Franco-American had almost $338,000 in assets, suggesting that Lalibert had embezzled more than twice the credit union's assets.

According to court papers filed in the case, Lalibert diverted member's cash deposits for her own use, made checks out payable to herself or her own creditors and made direct cash withdrawals from the CU. She also failed to note withdrawals from her own accounts and those of her husband and presented false reports to the CU's board of directors, according to the documents.

The legal filings also revealed that, as the extent of the embezzlement grew, Lalibert succeeded in convincing five other CUs to invest a total of $400,000 in certificates of deposit with the CU. This infusion of cash enabled her to keep the embezzlement going past the time it would have otherwise been discovered, the documents said.

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Coming: Wearable Device That Enables Interactions With The World of Data

How can your credit union compete with this technology? It will have to some day and that some day may not be that far away. This is a mind boggling video that litterally puts information at the fingertips of the consumer. See a demo here and share your thoughts by commenting.

Pranav Mistry is the genius behind Sixth Sense, a wearable device that enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html

100 Years of Inspiration - 26 Films That Changed the World of Visual Effects

A quick and interesting view of films with outstanding visual effects.

http://www.flixxy.com/movies-visual-effects.htm

August News & Views Published Below

CU SECURITY & TECHNOLOGY News - Providing a brief summary of news and information related to security and technology issues for credit unions - Plus some interesting and fun web sites . . .

CU Tech Conference Highlights the Fall Season; Coming November 9-12, 2009

CU InfoTech '09 is an innovative, comprehensive conference on credit union IT issues, products and strategies. CU InfoTech is in its 15th year and is the only conference totally dedicated to technology issues. Communicating with other credit unions is more important today than never before. No webinar or written communication can replace face-to-face technology networking.

(Click on photo to enlarge)

You can learn how to enjoy operational efficiency and profitability in the pre-conference workshop on Monday, November 9. Then join in the conference program on Tuesday and Wednesday which includes:

> Future Technology and Your Credit Union

> Next Generation Risks

> Leveraging Technology and Attracting New Members

> Reinventing Information Technology

> An inside Look at Mobile Banking

> Identity Theft and Where We're At Today

> Web Application Firewalls

> The Art and Science of LoanAcquisition

The legendary Riveria Resort & Spa in Palm Springs, CA creates an inspiring atmosphere for CU InfoTech '09. Click on the above photo for a great look at the Riveria.

For a brochure on the entire program, click here: http://cuconferences.com/tech09/09%20InfoTech%20FINAL.pdf