15 Years Ago, a Group of Bankers had an Idea.

Fifteen years ago, a group of bankers decided they wanted to spend less time on IT and get better results while having more capabilities with technology in their banks. They came up with the idea to have a company that only helped bankers, and BankOnIT was founded.

New varieties of ransomware threaten release of thousands of bank customer records

A new ransomware tactic occurring threatens to disclose confidential bank customer information unless a ransom is paid. Criminals have figured out they can extort bigger dollars using this approach compared to simply locking up a bank president’s workstation with ransomware. This creates far more reputational, legal and regulatory risks for the bank.

Here are tips to make it easier

How will you replace every PC, laptop and computer in your bank that runs Windows 7? More importantly, how long will it take, and how much will it cost?

Microsoft announced that effective January of 2020, they are ending support for Windows 7, meaning your bank will need to upgrade every Windows 7 device to a machine that runs Windows 10. With new security threats occurring daily and regulatory agencies requiring banks to only use supported systems, this upgrade is not optional.

Better Results: Cloud Computing helps provide better results for your bank.

Hidden Networks, an evolutionary step in helping banks protect their customer data from within their network, is the newest component provided as part of BankOnIT’s Bankers Private Cloud^® service.

You can’t attack something you can’t see

The city of Atlanta was hit by a ransomware attack that crippled several of its systems, according to the city’s news reports. The attack caused outages on both internal and external facing applications, including systems that citizens use to pay bills and access court documents. Hackers demanded a ransom of $51,000 in bitcoin to unlock the system. Days after the attack, city officials were still struggling to keep the government running with many of their digital processes and services still being held hostage by the hacker’s cyber attack.

These banks gained back far more than one hour.

What would your 2018 look like if you were able to spend less time on technology issues while gaining far more capabilities? And, what if these capabilities provided better reliability, increased security, fewer problems and a better outcome with your technology systems?

Fifty thousand security alerts. That’s how many alerts 75% of banks in the United States receive on a daily basis, according to an article published by the American Banker magazine. More and more banks are trying to convince regulators, and themselves, that they have the capabilities to monitor, manage and respond to the endless cycle of alerts while successfully running their bank and taking care of their clients. Some would call that insanity.

This week, National Data Privacy Day was celebrated. Data Privacy Day is an international effort to create awareness about the importance of respecting privacy, safeguarding data and enabling trust.

Beginning in the United States in 2008, it serves as an annual reminder to all of us about how important the privacy of our own personal data is.

Overview:

More cyber threats and increased complexity equals greater risk and enhanced regulatory scrutiny on the CEO and Board.

That essentially summarizes not only the OCC’s recently released Semiannual Risk Perspective for Fall 2017, but the challenges all banks face regardless of their regulator in 2018.