Headlines:
Canada Investigating Swift's Data-Sharing A Nev. Credit Union to Use Corillian Tool Minn. Customer Data Stolen from Vehicle
Canada Investigating Swift's Data-Sharing
Canada's Office of the Privacy Commissioner is investigating whether the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication improperly disclosed information about Canadians' transactions to foreign authorities.
Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said Monday in a press release that her agency has notified the Belgian cooperative, better known as Swift, about her plans. She also said her office has received complaints against several Canadian financial institutions and is investigating their involvement.
After The New York Times refused to suppress a story on the issue, the U.S. government disclosed in June that it was using federal subpoenas to access a Swift database. The Treasury Department has called the disclosure of the program "very damaging" in the nation's war on terror.
Swift says that it cooperates with central banks, national treasury departments, and law enforcement agencies in combating illegal activities, but that it does not discuss such efforts as a matter of policy.
A Nev. Credit Union to Use Corillian Tool
Corillian Corp. of Hillsboro, Ore., said Nevada Federal Credit Union of Las Vegas will use its Intelligent Authentication anti-fraud software.
The $862 million-asset Nevada Federal was not previously a Corillian client, the vendor said Tuesday.
The software looks at online banking users' behavior and their hardware and network connections. If any of these factors is different from what the software recognizes as typical for a specific user, it can present challenge questions before granting the user access.
Minn. Customer Data Stolen from Vehicle
The Minnesota Department of Commerce said last week that documents on several hundred customers of two banks have been stolen.
The documents contained account details for about 180 customers at First State Bank of Rosemount and about 180 at Ridgedale State Bank in Minnetonka.
The theft occurred the evening of Aug. 6 or the morning of Aug. 7 when a state vehicle was broken into and two cardboard boxes filled with customer records and examiner reports were taken.
The department stressed that the theft was not the fault of the banks.
The records, which the department's Financial Examinations Division had for routine examinations, were for customers with overdue loans, overdrawn checking accounts, and large certificate of deposit balances.
