Forrester report finds US tablet ownership doubled this year

Forrester Research has come out with its annual report on technology consumption in the US, and tablets are certainly gaining popularity.

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Although slightly lower than Pew Research's figures, Forrester deduced from its nigh 60,000-strong survey that 19 percent of 'mericans over the age of 18 own at least one tablet -- double the number the research outfit noted last year.

The whole report isn't available to the public, but why not use the time you would've spent reading it inspecting what's under the tree, and hoping you'll be responsible for upping those tablet stats in next year's report.

Read the blog to access the report.

Public WiFi Threats Dissected

You have heard the loudly voiced fears: Signing onto open, unmanaged, public WiFi networks is about as smart, and safe, as unprotected public sex with strangers.

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Everything up to and including identity theft is blamed on public WiFi -- and yet most of us continue to use it. A recent study, for instance, says 55 percent of mobile devices use public WiFi.

All the threats are reasonably accurately portrayed, but you know what is missing? Quantification of how often users on public WiFi networks are compromised and what costs or damages ensued.

Do you allow your members to bank online using public WiFi? Should you?

From CRM to “Big Data,” why a step back can be a step forward

Are banks in general shying away from technological advances, such as the use of “Big Data” analytics, because the issue is just too complex to get a handle on? Will mobile banking and mobile payments ever become mainstream, and, if so, when?

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A lot of banks can’t afford that kind of research and development and they depend on third parties.

Isn’t one of the arguments that if banks don’t do it, other competitors will?

What is your CU's position on Big Data? Read the article to see what other banks think.

Banks Spend Way More On Info Tech Than Any Other Business

Measured as a percentage of revenues, financial services firms spend more on IT than any other industry.

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The reasons for a higher use of IT in the banking industry are manifold. Financial service firms have to fulfill exacting regulatory requirements which translate into IT costs that do not contribute to the firms’ earnings.

Furthermore, banks rely heavily on IT in their back offices as well as their distribution channels.

How much does your CU spend on IT? Read the article to see how you stack up.

Using Data and Analytics to Fight Fraud

As financial institutions enhance the data they are willing to apply toward helping alleviate fraudulent activity, it could have a game-changing impact in the fight against fraud.

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Fraud still poses a very real threat to financial institutions and businesses because, in most cases, they bear the majority of the financial burden.

Lawmakers have recently passed legislation designed to detect and protect consumers, businesses and financial institutions from a multitude of fraud schemes, but are laws alone enough to contain the rising threat of fraud?

Does your CU lean on laws to help protect against fraud? Read the article to see what the author of this article has to say.

Social Media: The Next Big Payments Platform?

Payments upstarts like Dwolla and Chirpify are aiming to capitalize on social media's popularity.

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But the question remains whether consumers will flock to a system that lets the world know what they're buying.

Watch the video to see where things are headed.

Managing Mobile Risk – Avoiding Information Governance Mine Fields

Despite the challenges, CUs can rein in the information governance risks with common sense and the latest technologies.

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Most Credit Unions don’t practice what they preach when it comes to information governance.

Centralized document management, formal information management lifecycles, and proof of governance policy enforcement have all become non-negotiable elements in many firms’ policy management and enforcement protocols. And they influence firms’ choices of technology.

What does your CU information governance program look like? Read the article to learn more.

DDoS Attacks Against US Banks Peaked At 60 Gbps

Some of the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that targeted the websites of U.S. financial institutions this week have peaked at 60 Gbps.

Image source: NSS Labs

A group calling itself "Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters" launched a series of DDoS attacks against the websites of several U.S. banks during September and October, severely disrupting online and mobile banking services for extended periods of time.

The attacks are not that much different from the ones in September and October. There are some changes in the tools being used, but they are not significant.

Most banks and their providers are better prepared to defend against DDoS attacks now than they were two months ago. How does your CU stack up?

Cyber Terrorists Threaten Fresh Attacks Against U.S. Banks

A group claiming to be aligned with Islamic terrorism that launched a massive attack against U.S. bank websites in the fall has threatened another round, set to start this week.

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n the last round of attacks, security experts told FOX Business the perpetrators created a so-called “botnet” of compromised Web servers that it used to carry out the attack. The Web servers, the experts said, provided more horsepower than the personal computers because of their higher-level access to Internet infrastructure and less limiting bandwidth restrictions.

Without spoiling the article, side channel attacks could threaten cloud security in a big way. It's best to be prepared. Read the article to start getting prepared.

Sophisticated Smartphone Hacking: 36 Million Euros Banking Theft

A sophisticated digital attack involving smart mobile phones has been used to steal 36 million euros or 47 million dollars from corporate and private banking customers across Europe.

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The attack appears to have emanated from cybercrime servers in the Ukraine.

Android and Blackberry mobile devices have been specifically targeted, showing that attacks against Android devices are now a growing trend.

What are your thoughts, observations and views? Read the article to read more about "ZITMO" or "Zeus-In-The-MObile".

Sophisticated Zeus Campaign Stole €36 Million From 30,000 Bank Accounts

The Eurograbber campaign, as it has been named, used custom versions of Zeus and Zeus in the mobile (ZITMO) Trojans to bypass the two-factor authentication measures to compromise customer bank accounts.

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The sophisticated Zeus campaign stole an estimated €36 million, or $47 million, from over 30,000 customers across more than 30 banks in Europe this summer.

The attack intercepted SMS messages sent to customers to confirm financial transactions.

Does your CU protect your SMS channel? Read the article to see how these banks fell victim to this expensive campaign.

Good Vault launches two-factor authentication for iPhones

Good Technology announced Good Vault, a system for adding two-factor authentication to the iPhone 4 and 4S for access to Good for Enterprise email.

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The system will be especially valuable for government agencies and companies in highly regulated industries, such as healthcare and financial services, where it's critical to ensure that data is protected from unauthorized users if an employee's smartphone is lost or stolen.

With the Vault system, one of two sleeves is attached to the iPhone: One that can read a smart card or one that can read a microSD card, he said. Once either of the sleeves is in place, inserting the microSD or smart card becomes one component of the two-factor identification process, while typing in a PIN is the second. Once authenticated, users would have access to Good for Enterprise email.

Read the article to learn more about protecting access to the iOS platform.

Using Cloud for Disaster Recovery

Use of cloud for DR solutions is becoming more common, even the organizations which are not using cloud for mission critical production applications are moving towards using cloud for application DR.

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The article covers some of the best practices and lessons learned from the Cloud DR solutions we have implemented so far.

What does your CU do for disaster recovery? Read the article to see all tips and tricks and best practices.