CUs Need to Think Outside of Congressional Box to Strengthen Security

Thanks to Editor in Chief Lisa Freeman for her story, "House Panel Approves Data Security, NCUA Budget Bills," (Credit Union Journal, Dec. 9). Freeman reported on the House Financial Services Committee's approval of a data security bill, calling all companies handling sensitive financial data to provide safeguards equal to that provided by financial institutions.

In a rare chorus of agreement, credit unions and banks greeted the news with approval, as it required retailers to meet the same high standards as the financial services industry. But while our industry has a reputation for being safe, government standards aren't enough to thwart the lucrative cybercrime business.

It's time to have a serious discussion in the credit union community about going further to protect members' personal information: I call it security the "new" financial industry way. Instead of  relying on firewalls or passwords, which have proven to be ineffective, financial institutions should protect member data with encryption-at-rest technology. That way, hackers wouldn't be able to make sense of the data even if they could gain access.

So, yes, the House panel's approval of the security bill is definitely a step in the right direction; but financial institutions need to push themselves harder to raise the security bar – and why not have credit unions lead the way as we have in areas such as ACH?

Ron Daly, President/CEO
Virtual StrongBox, Inc., Charlotte, N.C.