When international criminals lifted $45 million from two Middle Eastern banks using stolen prepaid card data , Green Dot's chief executive Steve Streit says he wasn't surprised.
"Nobody is safe from the external penetration of computer hackers," he says. "So what you do [to prevent such breaches] is a constantly evolving art."
It's a dance in which companies — such as Green Dot, which recently announced its own branchless online banking offering GoBank — employ white hat hackers that test systems and upgrade banking processes that keep customer information safe.
When asked if the breach said anything about the prepaid card industry's security protocols, he replies: "On the prepaid side, I'm not sure it did that. I don't think it says anything about the prepaid industry."
Rather, Streit says, it demonstrates the need for the vigilance on the side of financial services companies and processors.
In the mega-heist, crooks gained access to account information through both banks' processors — RAKBANK's is based in India, Bank of Muscat's processor is incorporated in California.
Green Dot's processor is TSYS, says Streit. He says GoBank, as well as the company on the whole, uses a series of controls and transaction rules to constantly monitor accounts for fraud. "It helps us track devices and usage patterns," he says.
Streit is making a GoBank announcement later today at FinovateSpring in San Francisco.
Follow Sean Sposito (@SeanSposito) this week as he covers FinovateSpring 2013 (@Finovate) in San Francisco.
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