Let’s talk about privacy, employee access, spear phishing, Obama’s breach notification and the risks and rewards of mobile banking applications.
First, privacy: Is your information safe?
According to a new report from Ponemon Institute there is a widespread lack of oversight and control over employee access to confidential and sensitive information about customers and business partners. In fact, 71 percent of the employees surveyed said they have access to data that they should not be able to see, while 54 percent say they have access very frequently, 45 percent say they are more careful with your information than their managers and supervisors and only 22 percent they their organization is able to tell them what happened to lost data.
Your data!
Scary, huh? This applies to banks, stores, and everywhere computers or IT is used with your information.
Next, “spear phishing” in 2015 has been linked to numerous cyber-attacks including the one at JP Morgan Chase, plus the attacks made by the Russian crime group known as Anunak.
But now the “bad guys” are focusing on bank employees as well as the customers — and this has been very successful for them. What they are doing is sending e-mails to the employees that convince them to click on malicious links which ultimately compromises sensitive and private information.
Of course, this leads to fraud. Banks are fighting this by using enhanced authentication standards including DMARC which stands for Domain-Based Message Authentication Reporting and Conformance. This will help identity the sources of the e-mails and block spam. This is a constant battle and will get more awareness in 2015.
Next, the Obama breach notification: As you may know, President Obama called for an enactment of a national data breach notification law which has been widely accepted and endorsed by business groups and consumers. The problem is no one knows what is in it or if it’s complete. The White House has not released any details — yet.
And finally, let’s touch on the risks of mobile banking applications. With all of the banking apps getting more prevalent, naturally the security risk is becoming more of a challenge. Why? Because of the ease of use, easier access, unsafe date transmissions, unsafe storage, etc.
This is the fastest delivery system for banking and consumers these days and banks love them as they cost one-tenth of the price of an ATM transaction to the bank. And I too love the mobile apps for convenience. But here again — like with any application – watch out what you download onto your phone or the programs you access. The old saying, “a stitch in time saves nine” is now “a regular security download on your phone may save you nine days at the bank trying to sort things out”.
Ron Starr is a broker for Transnet Real Estate, a full service Real Estate Company headquartered in Novi Michigan that serves all of the surrounding communities with real estate and property management programs and can be reached at 248-891-4933.