MIDDLETOWN, PA (September 5, 2013) -- Covering a wide range of security topics and industry trends, Mid-Atlantic Corporate Federal Credit Union hosted its annual IT and Security Conference August 14-15.
Approximately 100 credit union professionals attended the IT and security event, where the overriding theme was the growing concern about social-engineering threats and keeping members’ sensitive information protected.
“As innovative technologies come to the market, the need intensifies for new security measures and greater awareness of potential threats,” said Dick Carberry, security administrator at Mid-Atlantic Corporate. “This is especially true for financial institutions, like credit unions, that must protect members’ sensitive information.”
Speaking to this topic, guest speaker Kris Zupan addressed the importance of Privileged Password Management at credit unions.
“Privileged Password Management involves securely storing, releasing, checking and changing the passwords for your privileged accounts. It’s critically important,” said Zupan, chief technology officer at Rallypoint Solutions. “Privileged passwords (like root or Adminstrator) are the most powerful accounts in your IT environment. If your credit union is not changing your privileged passwords on a consistent, well-planned basis, then you are at risk.”
Keynote Speaker Winn Schwartau, addressed this theme, as well. Schwartau is a leading global expert on security, privacy, info war, cyber-terrorism and related topics. He is well known for appearances at Defcon, where he hosts the popular game Hacker Jeopardy. His conference presentation, entitled “What Scares the Living IT Out of Me,” offered sage advice:
“The single, biggest security threat to businesses today is still their employees,” said Schwartau, talking about the impact on businesses given today’s social networks and online forums. “Companies should be monitoring what employees are divulging online, as well as outsiders. They need to be aware of the security implications.”
Attendees were treated to an agenda full of industry experts addressing the most important IT and security issues facing credit unions, including breakout sessions on data breaches, social media risks, cloud backup options, identity theft and cyber-attacks. Mid-Atlantic Corporate has posted a short recap of conference highlights on its FInection video channel http://finection.midatlanticcorp.org.
“Credit unions’ threats are growing in number and sophistication, making events like this conference even more valuable,” said Carberry. “Our conference is designed to provide the latest insights and ideas to help attendees enhance their security efforts.”
About Mid-Atlantic Corporate Federal Credit Union
Mid-Atlantic Corporate Federal Credit Union and its members have been well-served by a conservative financial management approach. It is a federally chartered corporate credit union that provides quality investment, lending and payment services to a national field of membership. Mid-Atlantic Corporate serves CUSOs, leagues, chapters, and more than 800 credit unions. Services include ALM, ACH, share draft processing, electronic bill payment, remote image capture and more. For more information, visit www.midatlanticcorp.org.