A new venture aims to improve cybersecurity measures at credit unions by directly training CU professionals in the field.
The Iowa Credit Union League and Affiliates Management Co., the league’s holding company, have partnered with LMG Security to launch BrightWise, a cybersecurity training firm specifically for credit unions.
The organization be led by Sherri Davidoff, who also leads LMG Security, a Missoula, Mont.-based provider of cybersecurity and digital forensics services.
“People tend to think cybersecurity happens in the IT department,” Davidoff said in a statement. “In fact, keeping the cyber-wolves at bay requires continuous, sharp-eyed guards at every point of entry. Frontline staff are under constant assault from crooks and their automated robots, lookalike communications and other crafty tricks.”
Corey Skadburg, a financial services industry veteran who will serve as chief operating officer of Brighwise, noted that even CUs “with really robust cybersecurity programs, still have a significant vulnerability within the employee base.”
While that is true for organizations across many industries, added Skadburg, credit union staff “are wired to bend over backward for members and their colleagues. If an unusual request comes across a credit union employee’s desk, skepticism can be overridden by a sense of duty to solve problems for people quickly.”
BrightWise training, he said, will be designed to help CUs balance service with protecting the institution “from cybersecurity criminals and the increasingly sophisticated traps they set for employees.”
The Iowa Credit Union League is the latest to make a push into offering more cybersecurity options for member credit unions. The BrightWise announcement comes closely on the heels of news that the New York Credit Union Association has
