Data and information management

Fallout from the coronavirus pandemic consumed the industry this year, but other events, including a scandal at the National Credit Union Administration and a credit union under fire for lack of board diversity, also made waves.

With Microsoft, Equifax and others acknowledging that the SolarWinds hack of U.S. government entities had affected their holdings, security teams and vendors have put the holiday aside while continuing around-the-clock surveillance to ensure no financial services or payments networks have been hacked.

As risk rises and budgets tighten post-pandemic, training all employees about security risks and conducting quarterly penetration tests helps to offset threats and potential losses.

By upgrading permissions and defining access, firms can get ahead of the new threat, says vArmour's Marc Woolword.

The Pittsburgh bank says the data aggregator deceptively uses PNC's logo in obtaining bank customers' login credentials.

Data that mimics the original set is part of coronavirus vaccine trials, and also has ramifications for mapping financial services metrics, says Aite's Ginger Schmeltzer.

Remote learning and work heightens the security risk, says Pulse Secure's Mike Riemer.

Federal banking agencies want to give the industry a hard deadline for notifying their regulators about serious security breaches and failed system upgrades.

After 18 years heading the U.S. Payments Forum and Secure Technology Alliance, Randy Vanderhoof will retire at the end of the year.

Paying on delivery with tokenization, biometric fingerprint cards, vein scanning or phone-to-phone with a variety of card payment options helps create a universe of consumer choice, convenience, personal preference and better fraud protection, says Radar Payments' Jane Loginova.