Trusted Network Technologies’ Financial Services IT Survey Reveals Increased Risk Awareness of Internal Data Theft

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Trusted Network Technologies, Inc. (TNT), a leading provider of identity audit and access control solutions, today issued the results of a survey in which financial services IT professionals share unsettling insights about internal information theft, the costs of data breaches, top risks, stronger authentication, and more. TNT will discuss the survey results in detail during an October 10 Webinar at 1 p.m. EDT. The survey, part of the company’s “Know Identity” initiative to educate organizations on using identity information to manage and prevent the risk of critical information exposure, uncovered several interesting perspectives:

“These findings highlight the risks financial institutions face as they strive to maintain customer loyalty and secure sensitive personal identity and account information”

• Many institutions are under constant attack—with more than 5,000 incidents of unauthorized information access a month
• The majority—about 60 percent—worry about employees stealing sensitive data
• Nearly 70 percent say a major data breach would drive their customers to other institutions
• About 63 percent of larger banks and credit unions estimated that a major data breach would cost more than $1 million

“These findings highlight the risks financial institutions face as they strive to maintain customer loyalty and secure sensitive personal identity and account information,” said Rob Ciampa, TNT’s vice president of marketing and business strategy. “Banks manage numerous critical, confidential information systems, which include core processing, imaging, and online banking. They must protect financial data by making sure only known, authorized users and computers have appropriate access to those resources, and lock the rest out.”

The survey findings recognize that insiders pose a significant threat as well. On a scale of one to five, respondents rated insider threats (3.8) about the same as hacker threats (3.9). About 37 percent acknowledged that their institution is vulnerable to employee data theft. Internal incidents are increasing according to industry research, and they cause much greater financial and operational damage.

“Last year’s FFIEC (Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council) guidance on stronger authentication for online banking focused on better controls for external users coming in through front-end channels,” said Tripp Johnson, senior director for Cornerstone Advisors, publishers of the popular gonzobanker.com Web site. “Financial institutions are wisely starting to look more closely at internal access controls to protect their critical back-end systems.”

Some additional findings from the survey:

• About one-fifth say unknown or unauthorized users get access to sensitive electronic information at least 100 times per month, and 5 percent acknowledge that users obtain unauthorized access 5,000 times or more per month.
• Security priorities do not always align with industry technology buzz—institutions ranked stronger authentication sixth among security technology priorities, despite the FFIEC guidance from 2005.
• Customer and member trust is at risk, with 68 percent agreeing that a major data breach would send customers or members to another institution.

Webcast

TNT will discuss the survey results in depth during an October 10 Webinar at 1 p.m. EDT. The Webcast also features Tripp Johnson of Cornerstone Advisors and gonzobanker.com. To register online, go to www.trustednetworktech.com/stopthief. Webcast participants will receive the complete survey results and analysis document.

The Survey

In August 2006, TNT collected feedback from 195 bank and credit union IT professionals, director level or higher, about identity theft and electronic data protection, assessing how they view the risks and costs of data breaches.

About Trusted Network Technologies

TNT’s identity audit and control solutions let companies see, control and prove who’s interacting with any server or application, from what computer, and when. Colleges and universities, banks, utilities, government agencies and others rely on TNT solutions to ensure appropriate access for trusted users and computers, safeguard sensitive data, verify policy compliance, and speed up audit data gathering. TNT solutions are low cost, fast to deploy, easy to manage and provide comprehensive visibility and control of interactions among all users, computers, groups, and specific assets and applications. For more information, visit http://www.trustednetworktech.com or call 877-222-8736.

About Cornerstone Advisors

Cornerstone Advisors, Scottsdale, Ariz., provides a wide range of strategy, technology and profit improvement consulting services to financial institutions including Best Practices Banking, Strategic Planning and Facilitation, Profit Improvement, Technology Assessment, Data Processing System Selection and Conversion Oversight. Cornerstone publishes industry-renowned GonzoBanker; authored The Cornerstone Report: Benchmarks and Best Practices for Mid-Size Banks and The Cornerstone Report: Benchmarks and Best Practices for Credit Unions; and contributes expertise to the CU community through CUES Tech Port.