Headlines:
Study Finds Keylogger Viruses on the Rise System Monitors Bank's IT Security Policy Hitachi, U.S. Firms in Smart Card Venture Deloitte Adds Carreker Security Database
Study Finds Keylogger Viruses on the Rise
Keylogger viruses are becoming more common, according to iDefense Inc., a Reston, Va., unit of the Mountain View, Calif., authentication technology vendor VeriSign Inc.
In a study released this month, iDefense projected that hackers would distribute 6,191 keyloggers this year, compared with 3,753 last year and just 300 in 2000. The viruses, which record what a personal computer's user types, have been used to steal online banking passwords.
Keyloggers are often sent to unsuspecting victims through Trojan horses: viruses that are disguised as harmless files. Ken Dunham, a senior engineer with iDefense, said that the increased use of the viruses is a concern to financial services companies, because "the keylogger Trojan is the traditional means through which a credit card can be stolen" online.
System Monitors Bank's IT Security Policy
Marshall BankFirst Corp. of Minneapolis has installed an electronic monitoring system that documents and enforces its information technology security policies.
Tyler Brenden, the $558 million-asset Marshall's director of IT infrastructure, said in an interview last week that the system, from Elemental Security Inc. of San Mateo, Calif., complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of 12 requirements that took effect in June and are aimed at safeguarding customers' personal information.
Marshall began using the monitoring system Nov. 21 and plans to use it as an internal management tool and to document compliance with various security requirements for audits, he said.
"We're initially deploying it for monitoring," Mr. Brenden said, but he also expects to start using the system soon to enforce a "hot-button" policy for the company: prohibiting laptop computers that use a wireless networking card from connecting to the company's internal network.
Hitachi, U.S. Firms in Smart Card Venture
Hitachi Ltd. plans to form a joint venture with MasterCard International, KeyCorp, and the investment fund Oakhill Venture Partners to promote the use of the Multos operating system for smart cards.
The Japanese electronics giant plans to invest $2.41 million to take an 18% stake in the joint venture, which would be based in San Francisco, a Hitachi spokesman said last week.
Oakhill will own 44% of the venture, MasterCard will own 20%, and KeyCorp will own 18%, the spokesman said.
Smart cards are used in a wide range of applications such as train commuter passes and electronic money. Japan's top cellular phone companies are adopting Sony Corp.'s FeliCa operating system.
MasterCard has played a key role in promoting the Multos technology, which the partners are trying to make the de facto standard for smart cards.
Hitachi also plans to work with Dai Nippon Printing Co., Toppan Printing Co., and others to develop Multos smart cards in Japan.
Through these efforts, Hitachi's IC-card system solution division now expects to generate about $670 million of revenue over the next three years, the spokesman said. The division had earlier projected revenue of $420 million.
Deloitte Adds Carreker Security Database
Deloitte, the Australian unit of the Swiss consulting firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, has incorporated anti-money-laundering software from the Dallas banking technology vendor Carreker Corp. into its security and compliance offering.
Carreker announced last week that Deloitte is offering the software as part of the AMLcheck online product for banks, financial companies, accountants, real estate firms, and other businesses.
Instead of installing software on their systems, companies pay a monthly subscription fee to access Deloitte's Web site, and they pay a fee for each inquiry.
Carreker's software compares customer names to a database of people and companies considered high-risk. The database uses information from more than 200,000 sources.
"As banks and other small businesses prepare to comply with increasingly more stringent anti-money-laundering legislation, the need for a cost-effective compliance tool has never been more apparent," Tim Phillips, Deloitte's anti-laundering team leader, said in a Carreker press release.
