Tag: NetComply One

18 Jun 2021
5 Areas to Outsource so Your IT Administrator Can Go on Vacation

5 Areas to Outsource So Your IT Administrator Can Go on Vacation

5 Areas to Outsource so Your IT Administrator Can Go on Vacation

It’s summertime. And COVID restrictions are finally being lifted. Maybe now your IT administrator can go on vacation—if there’s someone available to fill in.

Third-party IT and security service providers can make it easier for smaller banks and credit unions to manage when staff takes time off. Here are five areas where financial institutions can outsource to maintain adequate IT resources—and peace of mind—while the IT administrator is out of the office enjoying some downtime:

1. Network monitoring for diagnostic or security issues — Monitoring is critical for detecting, diagnosing, and resolving network performance issues. A network monitoring solution can gather real-time information to ensure the system is being effectively managed, controlled, and secured. With proactive monitoring, IT staff can find and fix network issues more quickly and easily. This can help them keep the network operating smoothly, stay ahead of outages, and avoid expensive downtime. It can also help the IT department maintain critical business services and reduce potential security risks for the institution. Outsourcing network monitoring can lighten the workload for time-strapped staff who are probably juggling more tasks while the IT administrator is away.

2. Managed replication and real-time backup to the cloud — Replication tools can automate the process of copying data across multiple sources, relieving the IT department from the burden of monitoring backups on a daily basis. The data gets stored in multiple locations, increasing its redundancy and resiliency. Using cloud-based managed data replication and backup solutions can make it easier for institutions to have the data they need to maintain normal business functions. It also provides another major benefit: No matter where the network admin is, it will be easy to restore data if a hardware failure, power outage, cyberattack, or some other disaster impacts the system.

View the PDF5 Things to Outsource So Your IT Administrator Can Go on Vacation Get a Copy

3. Regulatory and IT reporting — The need for data to confirm controls are in place does not go away when someone leaves or goes on vacation. It is important for management to have access to timely reporting about IT issues to enhance security and meet regulatory compliance. Having a system in place that generates reports in a single location, rather than manually created reports or reports pulled from disparate systems helps ensure data on security controls can be reviewed by anyone anytime. Partnering with a third-party provider that can aggregate reporting and control data can make it easier for institutions to meet these requirements.

4. IT support experts — Financial institutions must have the appropriate IT expertise to stay on top of complex security issues. Outside vendors can provide access to IT specialists who can augment the efforts of their IT team. The added support not only can be a godsend while the system administrator is on vacation, but it can also meet an ongoing need. An institution can use outside experts to provide technical knowledge and resources that may be lacking in the IT department.

5. Cloud-based infrastructure — Virtual servers, storage, software, and other cloud-based solutions offer access to resources on demand. And since cloud infrastructure is flexible and scalable, it is the ideal way to modernize a computer system and build redundancy. Using cloud-based infrastructure allows financial institutions to have duplicate copies of their data and core systems available whenever they’re needed. So, if an IT issue comes up, a third-party service provider can troubleshoot the problem remotely while the IT administrator is on leave.

Safe Systems offers a range of IT and security solutions to help institutions keep their operation and network running efficiently. Learn more about how our compliant solutions can provide professional support whenever your IT administrator takes a much-needed break.

15 Apr 2021
Latest Microsoft Updates Show Importance of Patch Testing

Latest Microsoft Updates Show Importance of Patch Testing

Latest Microsoft Updates Show Importance of Patch Testing

In early March 2021, Microsoft published some cumulative updates for different versions of Windows 10, including KB5000802. Unfortunately, the new updates and patches caused a variety of problems, including workstation crashes when printing, problems opening emails in Outlook, and some vendor products, such as Fiserv’s Navigator, not displaying correctly.

As a result, many people could not use printers from several popular brands such as Kyocera and Ricoh, and the new patches caused some users to experience the dreaded “Blue Screen of Death” (BSoD) when they clicked on the “print” option in some apps. Ultimately, Microsoft addressed the issue and rolled out a fix for the printer problems.

Importance of Patch Testing

The problems associated with Windows 10 KB5000802 serve as effective real-world reminders of the importance of patch testing as these issues could have been avoided by implementing proper testing procedures. Vendors are constantly releasing patches to correct software problems, improve performance and enhance security. But as the recent Microsoft incident clearly shows, patches can sometimes trigger new problems while trying to address existing ones.

All of this demonstrates why it is so important for banks and credit unions to test patches before installing them. Ideally, financial institutions should create a test group of the different kinds of machines and applications used in their environment and then apply any newly released patches to the elements in the group. Besides being a pragmatic approach, utilizing a test group also adheres to guidelines of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), and it helps effectively protect institutions from downtime, security breaches, and IT issues.

Value of a Third-Party with Financial Industry Expertise Managing Patches

The problems surrounding the latest Microsoft patch also illustrate the value that a qualified third-party IT expert like Safe Systems can bring to community banks and credit unions. Through our meticulous testing process, which includes more than 2,000 machines running a wide variety of banking and lending applications, Safe Systems was able to identify both general PC issues and banking application issues related to the patch. This regimented testing process, which follows FFIEC guidance, enabled Safe Systems to minimize the impact on more than 25,000 financial institution devices. As a result, clients were able to avoid major hassles and headaches with a vast majority of their devices.

Safe Systems issued an official notification about the situation, spelling out the specific problem, impact, resolution, and action required for customers and eliminated the patch from the environments of clients that were having trouble. Customers using NetComply One to manage patches didn’t need to take any additional action—unless they still had problems after the patch was removed. For clients with lingering complications, Safe Systems’ fully staffed Network Operation Center (NOC) was available to resolve their issues quickly.

Safe Systems’ proactive actions to neutralize possible issues relating to the patch is a prime example of the benefit of our NetComply One solution. Part “product” and part “service,” NetComply One is a comprehensive patch management solution that offers quarterly advisement from Safe Systems experts. It provides valuable reporting and insight into potential issues to help community banks and credit unions pass audits and exams. To learn more about how NetComply One can help your financial institution, click here.

02 Apr 2021
Is Cybersecurity Your Weakest Link

Is Cybersecurity Your Weakest Link?

Is Cybersecurity Your Weakest Link

Is Cybersecurity Your Weakest Link?

The financial landscape has changed drastically in the last 20 years, one of the most notable changes being the variety of financial services now being offered online. Although the wide-spread use of internet has made it possible to receive financial guidance from anywhere in the world, it has also created an environment where sensitive information and data could potentially be compromised by cybercriminals.

Today, professional hackers are spending more time and money than ever before to gain access to personal information for both monetary gain and “professional” recognition. The sensitive information that the financial services industry has access to continues to make them a prime target for hackers and other cybercriminals. Attacks can range from malware threats, DDOS attacks, phishing attempts and data breaches – all of which bad actors can use to commit fraud themselves or sell to a third-party.

Importance of Being Secure

 

Cybercrime continues to be a growing problem for banks and credit unions across the country. The impact of a cybercrime can be very costly for a financial institution, both financially and from a reputational standpoint. The main risks include theft or unauthorized access to sensitive customer information along with the disruption of normal business operations.

In addition, as the number of security threats continues to increase in the financial services industry, regulators are taking a closer look at financial institutions’ policies and procedures to ensure that they can effectively safeguard confidential and non-public information. As an example, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) is designed to ensure financial institutions are prepared in the event of a cybersecurity attack. The FFIEC CAT is now the guide regulators are using to examine institutions and determine their level of cybersecurity preparedness.

Some of the most common security threats financial institutions face today include:

Malware and Ransomware

 

Ransomware has established itself as one of the leading cyber threats for many organizations, but especially financial institutions. Using ransomware technologies, hackers can gain complete access and control over legitimate websites, often by encrypting data or programs, and extort ransom payments from victims in exchange for restoring access to the individual or business. Malicious software, or “malware”, is no longer characterized by simple aggravating popups and sluggish computer performance, but rather the encryption of all data on a machine, rendering it unusable.

Internet of Things (IoT) Attacks

 

Unsecured Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as DVRs, home routers, printers and IP cameras are vulnerable to attack since they are not required to have the same level of security as computers. To breach a financial institution, attackers will target insecure devices to create a pathway to other systems. Unsecure IoT devices are also used to launch distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) against institutions. These DDoS attacks prevent legitimate users from accessing computer systems, devices or other online resources. The perpetrator floods the victim’s machine or network with false requests from various sources to overload the system and prevent legitimate access. A well-executed attack can interrupt a host of banking services including website access, ATM networks, and online banking platforms, in addition to internal systems and functions.

Phishing Scams

 

Phishing scams that specifically target financial institutions’ employees, attempting to obtain sensitive information such as usernames and passwords, have become increasingly common within the last few years. The goal of phishing is to direct employees to a fraudulent website where they are asked to share login credentials and other personal information. The information that employees are tricked into providing then allow for cybercriminals to read a bank or credit union’s critical information, hack into the employee’s bank and social media accounts, send emails on an employees’ behalf, and gain access to internal documents and customer financial information.

Lack of Third-Party Vendor Security

 

While a financial institution might have the right security systems and policies in place to protect itself and its customers from a cyber-attack, its third-party providers may not have the same level of security and diligence. This creates a major vulnerability for the financial institution. Without a proactive approach to vendor management, financial institutions are opening themselves up to increased levels of risk that can have a negative impact on the institution’s financial standing, compliance posture and overall ability to serve its customers. Federal regulators have issued guidelines to help institutions better understand and manage the risks associated with outsourcing a bank activity to a service provider. The FFIEC IT Examination Handbook was revised to help guide banks to properly establish and maintain effective vendor and third-party management programs.

Insider Threats

 

Often, all it takes is a disgruntled employee or ex-employee to release valuable security information and compromise system and data security. Additionally, cybercriminals are increasingly realizing success through bribery as a means to entice bank employees to give up their login credentials or other security information, allowing direct access to internal systems.

Lack of Employee Training and Security Expertise

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has certainly brought its share of challenges to the financial sector of business, including increased network vulnerability and internal threats as employees transitioned to a remote work environment. These changes required cybersecurity personnel to change their online security baseline and continuously adapt to the changing IT security landscape. With the increased popularity of remote work, company IT staff are encouraging employees to take charge of their own online security through testing and training. The training includes topics like the importance of password security and multi-factor authentication and helps employees understand their roles and responsibilities in protecting against security threats. Until this learning gap is resolved, financial institutions will continue to struggle to efficiently manage cybersecurity threats.

Combating Security Threats and Ensuring Institution Security

 

While cybersecurity has become a major point of discussion among professionals within the financial industry, the truth is that many financial institutions are too complacent when it comes to protecting themselves. With hackers using advanced technology, the “bare minimum protection” is no longer enough to keep sensitive information safe. To adequately protect against security threats, financial institutions must ensure that every device on the network has up-to-date antivirus software, adequate firewall protections and that all patches are up-to-date as a minimum requirement. In addition, financial institutions should also employ a layered security strategy, from the end-user to the internet to establish a secure IT environment. Adding preventive, detective and responsive layers to IT security strategy will help strengthen an institution’s approach and build an effective security foundation.

A uniquely tailored layered security approach enables financial institutions to:

  • Monitor antivirus for servers, workstations, and off-site laptops
  • Use services that evaluate site lookups to avoid exposure to compromised websites
  • Scan the network for vulnerabilities and detect unusual activity against hackers and rogue employees
  • Block access to all external ports while also monitoring the access of various machines
  • Meet government regulations and requirements
  • Counter extortion threats by preventing a hacker from holding your customer’s personal data for ransom with special customized software for stopping ransomware
  • Patch machines, encrypt laptops, and install alerts on new devices plugged into the network

The security landscape is constantly evolving, and it is imperative to have a solid security plan in place that accounts for this evolution. It should be a fluid document that is frequently reviewed, updated and that specifically outlines administrative, technical, and physical controls that mitigate evolving risks. It is also important to test the full plan on a regular basis to ensure all procedures can be executed successfully and verify that all regulatory requirements are met.

Managing Security Needs

 

Many community banks and credit unions find that managing the security needs of their organization can be a time-consuming and challenging task. To help augment the security responsibilities, these institutions are turning to financial industry-specific IT and security service providers to act as an extension of their organization, provide timely support, and help the financial institution successfully design and execute a comprehensive security strategy. The right solution provider couples security measures with an understanding of and support for the unique security and compliance demands of the financial industry.

At Safe Systems, we believe that proactively protecting customer data will always be more cost effective than falling victim to malicious activity. To that end, we have the unique expertise to ensure that financial institutions employ the right combination of both broad and specific security products to create an ecosystem of protection. Safe Systems helps secure an organization’s endpoints, devices, and users by assessing vulnerabilities, detecting unwanted network activity, safeguarding against data loss, and preventing known threats while staying ahead of developing ones.

12 Dec 2019
Five Ways Strategic Advisors Help Community Banks and Credit Unions Improve IT Planning

5 Ways Strategic Advisors Help Community Banks and Credit Unions Improve IT Planning

Five Ways Strategic Advisors Help Community Banks and Credit Unions Improve IT Planning

The day-to-day responsibilities of managing the IT network administration, compliance efforts, and security measures for a community financial institution have grown to be a cumbersome, challenging, and often inefficient process. It is likely that there is not enough people and resources on the team to manage the multiple solutions and responsibilities.

To help combat the limited staff issue, many community banks and credit unions turn to managed services providers that have strategic advisors who act as facilitators and trusted partners to guide technology committees and provide tools to address financial regulatory governance. These advisors have a wealth of banking IT expertise and are knowledgeable regarding regulatory and industry issues faced by financial institutions today. They also serve as a convenient, single point of contact within the managed service provider, and assist by performing the following tasks:

    Get a CopyTop 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking Get a Copy

  1. Attend Technology Steering Committee Meetings
  2. Participating in regular steering committee meetings enables the strategic advisor to interact with decision makers and help with deliberation, consideration, and recommendations on IT-related issues. They can help mitigate potential risks that are often overlooked while sharing the knowledge and insight needed to help move the financial institution in a positive direction.

  3. Assist with Strategic IT planning
  4. Strategic advisors have a wealth of knowledge and insight into not only the banking and financial services arena, but the IT solutions needed for a financial institution to be successful. They help banks and credit unions develop a comprehensive plan to ensure the institution is implementing and utilizing the solutions necessary to meet its goals.

  5. Facilitate Responses to Pre-exam IT Questionnaires
  6. The exam process has become a time-consuming endeavor. At the beginning of the exam process, the examiner typically sends a list of items they want to review; certain areas they plan to examine; and items they plan to discuss. This normally includes a list of questions the financial institution must prepare ahead of the review. The strategic advisor works with the bank or credit union to complete the questions to meet examiner expectations.

  7. Provide Updates on Current Trends in Compliance, Technology, and Security
  8. The advancement of technology, online banking services, compliance, and regulatory requirements, have made the business of banking more challenging. Strategic advisors provide knowledge and information to help banks and credit unions stay abreast of all the updates and trends in the industry.

  9. Quarterly System Reviews and Assessments
  10. Performing regular assessments helps the financial institution ensure all things related to IT network technology controls are working and up to date. It also serves as time for the strategic advisor to educate bank personnel on new or changing government regulations and expectations. This helps community banks and credit unions to remain in compliance and be better prepared for audits and exams.

With this type of guidance, financial institutions can gain deeper technology insights and enhance strategic IT planning. Strategic advisors act as an extension of the internal team while helping guide and advise the bank or credit union on initiatives that ensure success today and into the future.

07 Nov 2019
How CEOs Can Ensure Continuity In their Bank or Credit Union With Network Management

How CEOs Can Ensure Continuity in their Bank or Credit Union with Network Management

How CEOs Can Ensure Continuity In their Bank or Credit Union With Network Management

The role of a community bank or credit union CEO has become increasingly complex with responsibilities including oversight of all operations and procedures—no small task in light of today’s rapidly changing technology and security landscape, evolving compliance, and shifts in consumer behavior when selecting a banking partner. Given this, many CEOs are struggling to ensure continuity in this environment, especially working with limited resources and increased employee turnover.

An effective way to do this is to partner with a managed services provider that has a comprehensive network management solution designed specifically for community banks and credit unions to provide expertise, services, IT support and add to the existing internal knowledge bases.

Sustaining Personnel Continuity

The reality is that today, community banks and credit unions must address succession planning, especially as it relates to their IT department. CEOs are tasked with thinking about and planning for redundancy to counter the consequences of key staff leaving and taking that knowledge-base with them—and away from the institution. But true continuity is not limited to a single employee resigning; there needs to be a continuity plan in place to account for when employees take vacation, are out sick, are on short-term disability, or are on maternity leave. Regardless of the situation, a managed services provider can help minimize uncertainty, prevent unnecessary stress, and assure continuity by acting as an extension of a bank or credit union and helping to augment internal IT resources.

Ensuring Technology Continuity

Get a CopyTop 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking Get a Copy

In addition to human capital, technology continuity is a key component of a community financial institution’s success. The advancement of technology, online banking services, compliance, and regulatory requirements, plus the growing demand from customers and members to have 24/7 access to their financial lives, has made the business of banking that much more challenging as it has become more IT-focused. This has made it crucial for banks and credit unions to have a proven technology program and framework in place to ensure that operations continually run smoothly.

Working with a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for the community banking industry provides a level of continuity and expertise that can otherwise be difficult to maintain internally on a long-term basis. Doing so ensures that the financial institution’s network is properly adhering to its operational, security, and compliance policies and procedures.

Continued Adherence to Government Regulations and Compliance

The burden of understanding how an ever-growing list of regulations applies to IT operations is shared across the organization. This pressure can be alleviated by an outsourced provider that truly understands the industry and is able to help institutions better manage their processes in a compliant manner. Taking a proactive approach to network management, for example, gives community banks and credit unions the ability to better stay ahead of new and pending regulatory requirements while effectively managing costs through limited resources.

Change is inevitable for any institution. However, having the ability to withstand change and still meet (or better yet, exceed) customer and member demands and expectations in spite of personnel turnover, natural disasters, technology struggles, etc. is key in today’s marketplace. An experienced managed services provider that offers a comprehensive network management system can go a long way toward ensuring continuity.

31 Oct 2019
IT, Compliance, Security and Personnel Challenges That De Novos Face

IT, Compliance, Security and Personnel Challenges That De Novos Face

IT, Compliance, Security and Personnel Challenges That De Novos Face

While the economy is making way for startups, there are still significant challenges to starting a bank from scratch. In addition to the overall challenging environment for community banks and the need to raise significant capital and funding, De Novos face additional obstacles such as complex regulatory and compliance expectations, strict information security requirements, and the stress of finding qualified staff in continuously evolving IT landscape.

People

Download PDFSuccess Story: American Pride Bank Get a Copy

Attracting and retaining the right people is one of the most daunting steps in launching a De Novo, particularly because early on, everyone needs to be very hands-on and wear multiple hats. Hiring the right personnel takes time and resources and can force executives who are trying to secure funding and capital for opening the bank to redirect their attention. All of this makes staffing and the development of in-house expertise significant pain points for De Novos to manage.

Technology

The advancement of information technology, security, compliance, and regulatory expectations and online banking services—plus the growing demand from customers to have 24/7 access to their financial lives—have changed the business of banking. Today, bankers have expanded their focus to include management of data, IT networks, compliance requirements, and security, in addition to their traditional roles of managing money and providing loans for their customers. Because technology has become central to the operations of banks, De Novos must quickly establish a proven technology program and framework to ensure that their operations run smoothly both at launch and ongoing. Even with the latest technology, however, the challenge often lies in trying to keep pace with the rapid rate of change that continues to impact their institution.

Information Security

From day one, De Novos must establish a strong information security posture to counter the increasing frequency of cyberattacks in today’s business environment. While falling victim to security breaches and associated attacks is costly for any community bank, both from a financial and reputational standpoint, it is especially harmful to new banks that are working hard to establish trust among its new customers and the community. Furthermore, successfully recovering from the damage and destruction of data, theft of personal and financial data, and disruption to the normal business operations can exceed a De Novo’s financial resources.

Compliance

Get a CopyTop 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking Get a Copy

Regulators have historically been more stringent in ensuring that De Novos are in compliance with, and adhering to, expectations. As an example, the FDIC’s InTREx program (Information Technology Risk Examination) is designed to provide a more uniform and less subjective examination experience—one that requires a deeper analysis by the examiner and in turn puts a greater compliance burden on the bank. Proper documentation will often make the difference between a “satisfactory” and a “less than satisfactory” assessment. This means that institutions must be adequately prepared to meet examiner expectations. In addition to proving that the bank has enough capital to operate, they must also prove they, with all applicable laws, regulations, and supervisory policies. De Novos have found managing regulatory compliance efforts to be a resource-consuming and expensive task.

Today’s complex regulations, increased use of technology, personnel restraints, and security expectations, are forcing De Novos to find new ways to manage risk, remain compliant, and be competitive in today’s environment. Under these mounting pressures, De Novos are increasingly turning to managed service providers to help bear the burden and establish a framework to meet these challenges. Such partners bring knowledge, additional resources and expertise to help financial institutions better control and more successfully manage their complex IT environments – positioning them to operate in today’s financial services arena with a greater degree of confidence and success.

24 Oct 2019
Reducing Risk for CEOs

Reducing Risk: Top 4 Things CEOs Can do to Reduce Risk in their Bank or Credit Union

Reducing Risk for CEOs

The role of a community bank and credit union CEO has expanded and now requires a much deeper understanding of technology issues, risks, and regulatory requirements. CEOs are ultimately responsible for the health of the institution, which requires effective oversight of all operations and procedures and ensuring the institution is efficiently managing and reducing risk.

Many risk events arise from preventable mistakes, including: the right security layers not being in place; flaws in transaction processing; flaws in IT solutions and processes; security breaches; and/or outright fraudulent acts.
The CEO is ultimately responsible for ensuring the institution manages and combats these risks. Some key things CEOs can do or implement to reduce risk include:

  • Attract and Retain Skilled Staff

The CEO must make sure that the staff has the knowledge to ensure the institution is both compliant and competitive in today’s market. Employees must understand the ever-growing complexity of regulations as they relate to IT operations and ensure the institution remains compliant with continuously changing regulatory requirements and is up-to-date with evolving technology to meet customer and member demands and expectations.

  • Implement Information Security Procedures

Get a CopyTop 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking Get a Copy

The CEO must ensure proper technologies and solutions to thwart viruses, spyware, and other harmful threats are installed. This entails overseeing the creation of enforceable policies and processes to both educate employees and protect the institution’s computer infrastructure, networks, and data. Cybersecurity represents a large component of the risk prevention strategy. Ensuring security defenses fit closely with the institution’s long-term goals as well as support the IT and compliance strategies is vital to not only the health of the organization but also in remaining compliant with current regulations.

  • Understand Compliance and Regulatory Expectations

Regulators now pay more attention to issues around governance, security, and IT solutions than they have in the past, and they have made clear that it is on CEOs to make sure that the institution is adequately protecting customer or member data, are aware of the institution’s operations, and are following all FFIEC and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) requirements. The CEO must evaluate risk assessment efforts and security initiatives and establish policies regarding the management of key compliance and consumer risks to ensure the organization adheres to the correct policies.

  • Partner with the Right Managed Services Provider

More and more community financial institutions are turning to third-party providers for expertise, services, and IT support. Working with a provider who offers solutions exclusively tailored for community banks and credit unions ensures the institution’s network adheres to its operational, security, and compliance policies and procedures. Partnering with the right managed service provider can also help eliminate redundant resources, reduce existing fixed costs by maximizing capacity and leveraging economies of scale, and can add to existing internal knowledge bases.

CEOs of community financial institutions are continuously looking for ways to more efficiently and effectively manage risk. As a result, they are increasingly recognizing that partnering with a managed service provider that offers a comprehensive network management system, designed specifically for the financial services industry, helps them not only better manage their responsibilities and streamline processes, but reduces their regulatory risks as well.

To gain more insight into how CEOs can reduce risk, as well as other IT management issues for CEOs to be aware of, download our white paper, Top 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking.

17 Oct 2019
Morris Bank Experiences Growth with the Help of Safe Systems’ Network Management Solution

Morris Bank Experiences Growth with the Help of Safe Systems’ Network Management Solution

Morris Bank Experiences Growth with the Help of Safe Systems’ Network Management Solution

In today’s fast-paced, technology driven environment, managing community banks’ IT operations and networks have become a very time-consuming process to execute, especially for financial institutions looking to achieve strong growth, increase acquisitions, and build brand new institutions for their communities. The number of patch updates, reporting requirements, network troubleshooting, and regulatory compliance responsibilities are cumbersome for many IT professionals to handle while also working to keep bank operations running efficiently and seamlessly in various branches and locations.

Creating an Environment for Growth

Many community banks set out to build the best institutions for their communities, and when they’re successful, the next logical step is to expand. Morris Bank, headquartered in Dublin, Georgia, was on a mission to grow by offering more services, more locations, and more opportunities for their customers to thrive. A major challenge for banks that take on this task is ensuring IT operations are implemented and managed effectively, especially during these periods of growth and change, and that the institution is compliant with all regulatory requirements.

Larry Schenck, IT Officer at Morris Bank, realized the bank was already engaged with a provider that could help him more efficiently manage and meet the growing IT needs of the institution. Morris Bank has been a Safe Systems customer for 15 years. Schenck knew that they understood the demands of the banking industry and could adequately support the bank’s IT and compliance requirements. After careful consideration, Morris Bank decided to implement Safe Systems’ NetComply® One IT network management solution in 2016.

As a community bank with limited staff and branches in several locations, Morris Bank relies heavily on third-party providers, such as Safe Systems, to offer new opportunities to streamline processes. NetComply One helps Morris Bank efficiently manage all important network tasks including automated patch management, network monitoring, qualified alerting, and detailed reporting for examiners. Since the bank implemented Safe Systems to manage its IT network, the IT team has been able to focus on more revenue-generating opportunities and market expansions that have led to great successes for the bank.

“Our vendors play a key part in our success as well, and working with Safe Systems has helped us to simplify IT processes, meet compliance guidelines, and provide continuity for our internal team and our community as a whole.”

The last 10 years brought on a lot of change and growth for Morris Bank. The bank grew its total assets from roughly $180 million to $980 million and added seven locations to equal nine branches throughout Middle and South Georgia in Dublin, Gray, Gordon, Warner Robins, Statesboro, and Brooklet. The bank was able to grow so successfully by not only acquiring other smaller banks and their assets but also by opening branches in desirable locations. In fact, after being opened only two-years, the branch in Gray was the fastest growing bank branch in the state of Georgia.

“At Morris Bank, we have a great management team and an amazing staff that enable us to keep growing and continue to provide great service to our customers,” said Schenck. “Our vendors play a key part in our success as well, and working with Safe Systems has helped us to simplify IT processes, meet compliance guidelines, and provide continuity for our internal team and our community as a whole.”

Overcoming Challenges with Network Management

Acquiring banks and branches is a complex process, especially in terms of IT integration. All equipment and systems must be brought onto the same network and operate through the same infrastructure. Compatibility is not always easy, and often, the larger the bank or branch being acquired, the more complicated the task.

One of the bank’s recent acquisitions included three branches with 40 employees; more than 40 workstations; several servers; and additional devices and systems that needed to be set up on the network. First, all systems and devices must be tested for updated patches and antivirus. While this can be a cumbersome task, Safe Systems’ network management system enabled the bank to efficiently manage and complete the process. “Onboarding new machines and getting all systems set up on the network is a challenging task during an acquisition,” said Schenck. “With the reporting NetComply One offers, we can easily see which machines need updates, remedy any issues and have more visibility into the network to efficiently manage integrations.”

In addition to the reporting from NetComply One, Morris Bank relies on Safe Systems’ Strategic Advisors to help them navigate the processes needed to complete integrations. With the knowledge the advisors provide, the bank has been able to complete the challenging tasks of ensuring all systems are working in a compliant manner and all branches are running efficiently.

The patch management component of NetComply One has also been very important for Morris Bank. The bank has approximately 250 computers to manage and keep up to date with patches, which is critical to information security and combating cyber threats. “While Safe Systems manages and provides the patches, they are also very careful to not just arbitrarily patch machines and equipment without proper testing,” says Schenck. “Safe Systems tests each patch to ensure it will work with our current systems and ensure no holes will be left for hackers to exploit.”

Building a Strong Partnership

Morris Bank relies on a number of vendors to offer its customers key products and services that give them more convenience and control. Over the years, they have added additional Safe Systems services, including their Vendor Management solution. This solution enables a more efficient risk assessment and due diligence process, as well as provides the ability to proactively manage vendor renewals, centralize all important documents, and have detailed information to share with auditors, examiners, senior management, and the Board.

“Regulators are more closely scrutinizing the vendor management process within banks, and with Safe Systems’ vendor management solution, we are able to easily provide the proper documentation to examiners in an efficient manner,” said Schenck.

I worry less and sleep better at night knowing we have Safe Systems’ solutions running in our bank.”

Through its partnership with Safe Systems, Morris Bank has been able to expand its reach in all areas of technology, compliance, and security. The bank receives positive feedback from regulators on its network management and vendor management programs and has enhanced its compliance posture.

“Through the years, Safe Systems has been a valuable and trusted partner to our bank,” said Schenck. “The solutions Safe Systems provide enable us to give our customers a better banking experience as well as a more efficient work environment for our employees. I worry less and sleep better at night knowing we have Safe Systems’ solutions running in our bank.”

Free White Paper

The New Era of RegTech

Building Compliance into Your Financial Institution’s Processes
Why Reasons Why Antivirus Isn't Enough Anymore

28 Mar 2019
An Eastern Virginia Bank Enhances Compliance with Safe Systems’ NetComply® One Solution

An Southeastern Bank Enhances Compliance with Safe Systems’ NetComply® One Solution

An Southeastern Bank Enhances Compliance with Safe Systems’ NetComply® One Solution

To run a bank efficiently, it is important to have all employees — from the C-suite to the teller line — working towards a common goal of providing quality service, fulfilling strategic business objectives and offering the best products to customers. For many bank IT professionals, this can be a challenge when most of their time is spent managing software updates and reporting and troubleshooting networks, workstations, and applications, all while maintaining regulatory compliance.

The Chief Information Officer for a Southeastern-based bank with nearly $2 billion in assets ran into this very issue with his IT team. They spent a tremendous amount of time managing the bank’s network and installing updates and patches and did not have time left to handle their other responsibilities at the institution.

This led the CIO to search for a way to streamline processes and enable his staff to focus on higher-value activities like supporting the core business and assisting customers.

The Solution

Download PDFCase Study: An Southeastern Bank Enhances Compliance with Safe Systems’  NetComply One Solution Get a Copy

After consideration, the bank implemented Safe Systems’ NetComply One service in late 2016. At the time, they were one of our largest customers with hundreds of devices on our network, which made their CIO a little apprehensive. His concerns were quickly put to rest when our team completed the implementation with ease. The CIO was happy that we were able to meet all the needs of the bank by getting NetComply One quickly implemented without downtime at any of the bank’s locations.

With the new IT solution in place, the bank can effectively monitor and manage its IT assets with automated patch management, qualified alerts, and detailed reporting capabilities in a single solution. The NetComply One service provided the CIO with confidence that their IT assets are operating securely and efficiently.

Results

Since working with Safe Systems, the bank has improved IT processes and decreased the amount of time spent on daily IT responsibilities. NetComply One helps them monitor and manage all their devices from one centralized platform, ensuring IT operations run more smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

“With NetComply, we don’t have to spend time managing IT assets and troubleshooting end user issues as we had to in the past. Now, our people can focus on our core systems and applications and setting up systems for new products, allowing us to offer a wider range of services to our customers.”

The bank also benefits from the Strategic Advisor, or dedicated resource, that Safe Systems provides to help guide and advise the bank on initiatives and where the bank wants to go. In addition, NetComply One helps the bank prepare for exams by reducing the amount of time required to produce reports that meet examiner expectations and needs.

“We’ve experienced positive results working with Safe Systems and do consider them an extension of our internal team,” said the CIO. “Aside from the innovative solutions they provide, it is the people that makes Safe Systems such a valued partner to have. I know they want to see us do well, and they help push us towards the results they know we can achieve.”

24 Jan 2019
What Community Financial Institutions Should Look for in a Managed Services Provider

What Community Financial Institutions Should Look for in a Managed Services Provider

What Community Financial Institutions Should Look for in a Managed Services Provider

The majority of banks and credit unions rely on managed services providers to help them improve efficiencies in their organization, meet mounting regulatory compliance requirements, and provide the competitive products and services their customers and members expect.

However, selecting the right managed services provider can be challenging. We have highlighted some key qualities that community banks and credit unions should look for when choosing trusted partners.

A managed services provider should have a true understanding of the following areas:

The community banking and credit union industries

Complimentary White PaperAutomating Your Compliance Processes with Technology Get a Copy

A managed services provider must truly understand the “ins and outs” of operating a community bank or credit union. This includes recognizing the industry trends, realizing the importance of priorities, such as customer- and/or member-service related touch points, and understanding regulatory and compliance issues. Not knowing how a community financial institution operates is a hindrance that can prohibit the provider from effectively meeting the demands of the institution and makes it unlikely that it will be in a position to offer informed recommendations on improvements and solutions to existing issues.

Financial services technology

Technology is ever-changing and it is nearly impossible for any one person to successfully keep up with all of the advancements. To provide the technological solutions and services that a community bank or credit union requires, a managed services provider should understand the technical requirements of all banking technology solutions, starting with the core platform. Since many applications have to work with — and integrate into — the core platform, it is impossible to design an efficient and comprehensive network without first an understanding of core platforms and banking technology.

Regulatory compliance requirements

The evolving world of financial regulatory compliance governs every aspect of your IT network and that includes what hardware and software you choose to deploy. In today’s banking environment, vendors must be able to make recommendations on how to manage hardware and software to meet regulatory expectations, meet regulatory expectations such as, verifying all patches, ensuring security measures are up to date, and maintaining access to critical services during a disaster.

Working with the wrong managed services provider can be time-consuming, cumbersome, and even stressful. However, working with a provider who offers the desired services and who truly understands your industry can help guide the institution in today’s challenging financial environment. A good partnership is key to ensuring your organization remains competitive and profitable for years to come.

14 Sep 2018
American Pride Bank Partners with Safe Systems to Successfully Launch New Institution

American Pride Bank Partners with Safe Systems to Successfully Launch New Institution

American Pride Bank Partners with Safe Systems to Successfully Launch New Institution

An efficient network environment is important to ensure that bank operations run smoothly, especially for new financial institutions. Preparing a bank for a grand opening involves setting up workstations, equipment, servers and software for the entire organization – all of which can prove daunting for an institution with limited IT staff.

Nicole Rinehart, vice president of Macon, Ga.-based American Pride Bank, quickly found herself in this situation when managing the launch of the de novo bank. She realized she needed assistance and support with the bank’s IT initiatives to get the institution up and running as soon as possible.

“As the only IT person in the bank, I had a big assignment to accomplish getting the bank open and ready for business,” said Rinehart. “I had never dealt with a company like Safe Systems before, but with their professionalism and expertise in the banking industry, I felt that they were a great partner to help us with this project.”

Streamline IT Operations and Compliance Processes

Download PDFSuccess Story: American Pride Bank Get a Copy

American Pride Bank implemented Safe Systems’ IT network management service, NetComply® One, allowing it to automate a variety of IT functions to ensure its network would be secure and compliant. With NetComply One, the bank can monitor and manage IT compliance and security from one centralized platform; easily receive alerts; provide detailed reports to examiners and Board of Directors; receive network updates; streamline patch management and other manual tasks and obtain expert support from Safe Systems’ team. Rinehart is also able to access the bank’s network remotely to monitor and manage day-to-day maintenance issues that arise.

After the initial set up, the bank switched locations seven months later, and Safe Systems was right there to transfer all of the equipment, servers, and workstations to the new building. The support from the technical engineers made the transition seamless and stress-free for the entire organization.

“NetComply One is a one-stop-shop for technology, compliance, and security,” Rinehart said. “When examiners come into the bank, our audits are flawless because we have thorough, real-time data to share that meets regulatory expectations and shows that our network is functioning securely and efficiently. The platform streamlines our IT processes and reduces the amount of time I spend on manual IT tasks, allowing me to focus on more valuable activities for the bank.”

For more information, download the full success story, American Pride Bank Enhances IT Network Management Processes.

12 Sep 2018
Streamline Network Reporting to Better Meet FFIEC Requirements

Streamline Network Reporting to Better Meet FFIEC Requirements

Streamline Network Reporting to Better Meet FFIEC Requirements

Annual exams and regulator expectations continue to change and become more cumbersome for financial institutions, regardless of size. The entire exam process, starting with the preparation, can be an extremely time consuming and stressful process to complete given the amount of reports and information the bank or credit union is required to provide. To manage this process efficiently, community banks and credit unions must understand what examiners are looking for and be able to streamline processes to ensure the proper documentation is prepared prior to the exam.

The Compliance Challenge

Regulatory agencies are requesting an increasing number of documents and reports even before the exam begins. Financial institutions are usually asked to prepare between 40-100 items for each exam or audit and institutions have between 11-20 exams per year, making exam preparation alone a cumbersome, full-time task, and one that can be overwhelming for a financial institution with a small IT department. This doesn’t even take into account the amount of time spent providing accurate responses to requests and reviewing and remediating findings.

Download PDFSuccess Story: American Pride Bank Get a Copy

Some of the reports requested by government agencies include:

  • Documentation of patch management programs;
  • Vendor management program reports;
  • Network Vulnerability Scan reports;
  • Back-up verification and reporting;
  • Inventory and auditing logs;
  • Remote Control Logs;
  • Training logs;
  • Detailed Executive Summaries; and
  • Security Control Logs and Verification.

With limited resources, many community financial institutions struggle to efficiently meet examiner expectations and provide reports that are timely, accurate, complete, and consistent.

Automate the Network Reporting Process

Community financial institutions are looking for ways to better manage their regulatory reporting requirements. To help streamline this process, financial institutions are implementing a network management system with an automated reporting function that allows institutions to easily configure, customize and generate reports to meet examiner expectations.

A comprehensive network management system designed specifically for financial institutions can help the IT department quickly produce and effectively manage custom reports for exams. Having a solution that automates IT reporting based on FFIEC requirements, helps banks and credit unions to more efficiently prepare for exams. In addition, increased visibility to the network helps IT managers simplify processes and provide proper documentation to examiners.


Remaining in compliance with government regulations is a consuming responsibility for institutions of all sizes. Regulatory agencies are continually changing and increasing the amount of reports they require. To help ease this compliance challenge and streamline reporting activities, financial institutions should adopt applications that will increase efficiencies with automation.

05 Sep 2018
8 Key Requirements of the CAT to Consider

Does Your Network Management Comply with the CAT? 8 Key Requirements to Consider

The threat to network systems has increased significantly over the last few years, and the consequences of a breach can be potentially disastrous for organizations and individuals alike. Due to the volume and sophistication of cyber threats, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) plays a major part in helping financial institutions identify risk and understand their cybersecurity preparedness. To better protect the network, financial institutions must understand where their security practices fall short and how to effectively address those gaps. The CAT provides a clear set of standards to ensure an institution’s network systems are managed efficiently and compliantly.

 
Some key areas of network management that are addressed in the CAT include:

  1. Risk Identification
  2. There must be documented processes that outline potential threats and vulnerabilities. Risk identification activities that determine the institution’s information security risk profile, including cybersecurity risk, must be documented and evaluated on a routine basis.

  3. Network Border Protection
  4. There must be effective preventative controls in place to adequately protect the network from attack. This includes firewalls, anti-virus protection and anti-malware software.

  5. Inventory of Assets
  6. An updated inventory of technology assets including hardware, software, information, and connections should be maintained. The inventory should include where all assets are stored, transmitted and processed.

  7. Auditing of the Network
  8. Download PDFSuccess Story: American Pride Bank Get a Copy

    Financial institutions must have the ability to identify what devices are present on a network; the ability to monitor at the device level to determine the health of network components; and the extent to which their performance matches capacity plans and intra-enterprise service-level agreements (SLAs). It also includes the ability to track performance indicators such as bandwidth utilization, packet loss, latency, availability and uptime of routers, switches and other Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) enabled devices.

  9. Dual-Factor Authentication
  10. The system must have more than one form of authentication in order to access it to ensure a secure log-in.

  11. Patch Management
  12. An effective patch management program is a must in today’s environment. All software applications require updates from vendors to remedy weaknesses. Updates should be rolled out to all devices in a timely manner, updates should be tested to ensure they don’t create an issue for the institution’s applications and all patches must be well documented.

  13. Remote Control Access
  14. Remote access to a network allows employees to connect to any machine in their network via encrypted and logged sessions. It gives administrative personnel the tools to administer and manage a network, enabling increased productivity, heightened security, greater flexibility and centralized control that’s accessible from anywhere they have an Internet connection. While this is beneficial, it must be monitored and protected from outside attacks.

  15. Reporting
  16. Financial institutions must be able to generate and provide easily configurable, customizable and accurate reports for all exams and audits in a timely manner.

Consequences of Not Being in Compliance

Failure to comply with FFIEC guidelines puts a financial institution at risk of doing poorly on exams, being written up for not following protocols and spending large amounts of time remedying violations, which can all lead to reputational damage and loss of revenue. Regardless of location and size, banks and credit unions are all subject to largely the same regulations. Governing agencies have become more stringent in their exams in the last several years and have been liberal in issuing citations to community financial institutions that have lapses or are not meeting regulations.

Automating Network Management

To help ensure community financial institutions operate more efficiently, securely and compliantly, IT professionals are implementing network management systems designed specifically for financial institutions and their compliance needs. These systems help to further decrease costs, increase performance, and improve their compliance posture by automating the myriad of tasks associated with exams and regulatory requirements. Systems with built-in automated intelligence eliminate the need for IT staff to directly administer challenging and time-consuming tasks such as patch management, anti-malware updates, and reporting.

Automating IT activities helps ease the burden of maintaining network compliance. Remember, while compliance requirements can be cumbersome and time-consuming, these standards are in place to ensure that sensitive, financial data is protected from the malicious threats and attackers who seek to exploit it.

29 Aug 2018
Often Overlooked Component of a Patch Management Program – Patch Testing

An Often Overlooked Component of a Patch Management Program — Patch Testing

Often Overlooked Component of a Patch Management Program – Patch Testing

A strong patch management program has many important components. It starts with identifying the right patches, implementing a patch schedule, deploying patches, and ensuring all patches are effective and working correctly. However, one critical but often-overlooked component of patch management is the actual testing of all patches. Testing patches before they are implemented is crucial to ensure that they will not wreak havoc on your machines, servers or networks and cause disruptions in your IT environment, not to mention impede customer service.

Patches are constantly being released, making testing an on-going action item for financial institutions to ensure their network and organization are protected. Testing can be a time-consuming task, requiring, hours, days or weeks, depending on the updates provided and criticality of the system to be patched. On the other hand, the cost of having to repair damaged software and network systems due to untested patches can be significant.

Effective Patch Management and Testing

Download PDFSuccess Story: American Pride Bank Get a Copy

Financial institutions cannot blindly install patches without understanding the potential impact the update will have on the institution’s network. Doing so can result in the elimination of key features in bank systems, incompatibility with critical functions, and even the removal of important data and financial information. Once patches are installed, it can be difficult to revert back to the older version.

All software applications require updates from vendors to remedy known vulnerabilities or security weaknesses, not just operating systems. This includes updates for third party software programs such as Adobe Acrobat®, Adobe Reader®, Adobe Flash®, Java™, Chrome™, and Firefox®. All patches should be tested in an environment that hosts the same critical applications, including business applications, servers, network systems and all the key applications unique to the financial institution. The goal is to replicate the whole environment as much as possible to determine the potential complications and outcomes for each patch.

Streamline Patch Testing

To help streamline the testing process and ensure all patches are thoroughly tested, Safe Systems has established one of the largest test groups in the United States focused on the financial services industry. The test group consists of more than 1,000 devices in real-world environments, ensuring that when a patch is approved for full deployment, the financial institutions system’s operations and applications are not impacted and business is not interrupted.

Having the support of an outsourced service provider testing all patches crucial to your institution ensures you have a comprehensive patching program that is guaranteed to deliver quick, accurate, and secure patch updates to all workstations and servers. This process will help mitigate the multiple risks associated with running unpatched and untested programs and automate the time-consuming process of testing and deploying new patches.

A lack of effective patch management and testing has contributed significantly to the increase in the number of security incidents in financial institutions. Adequately testing every possible configuration is a necessity for all financial organizations to protect against data breaches and other malicious attacks. Working with a third-party service provider to assist in the testing phase can save your organization countless hours; eliminate the headache of having to fix incompatible patches; and ensure software is up to date, resulting in a secure environment.

22 Aug 2018
2018 The Peoples Bank of Georgia Enhances Compliance and IT Network Management Processes with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

The Peoples Bank of Georgia Enhances Compliance and IT Network Management Processes with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

2018 The Peoples Bank of Georgia Enhances Compliance and IT Network Management Processes with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

When The Peoples Bank of Georgia’s outsourced IT provider retired and sold the business to another company, the staff was faced with the challenge of working with a provider who did not specialize in banking. This led Jessica Keller, Information Technology Officer for The Peoples Bank of Georgia, to search for a service provider who truly understood her bank’s IT operations; one that could successfully manage its compliance requirements; and one that had the expertise to monitor and manage the bank’s network efficiently.

Experienced and Knowledgeable Third-Party Provider

Keller learned about Safe Systems through attending banking industry conferences and through recommendations from her peers. The bank selected and implemented Safe Systems’ NetComply® One IT network management solution to efficiently manage all important network tasks and provide proper documentation to regulators for IT examinations. NetComply One also enables the bank to automate patch management; receive qualified alerts; and obtain detailed reports.

New Call-to-actionSuccess Story: Peoples Bank of Georgia Get a Copy

“As a small community bank, we needed a service provider who could guide our institution’s IT projects, efficiently manage compliance, regulatory requirements, reporting and act as an extension of our organization,” said Keller. “Safe Systems’ expertise in the banking industry, their ability to work with regulators, and the automated reports they provide, made them the ideal partner for our bank.”

Compliance and Regulatory Expertise

After NetComply One was installed, the bank’s staff was able to more efficiently manage all important network tasks, ensuring proper documentation to regulators for IT examinations. “Implementing the NetComply One solution has made significant improvements in examination preparation and management for our entire network,” said Keller. “I no longer have to spend time on manual processes and can now focus on more valuable tasks and activities. Safe Systems is a true partner who understands the banking industry and acts as an extension of our organization, enabling us to ultimately better serve our customers.”

For more information, download the full success story, The Peoples Bank of Georgia Enhances Compliance and IT Network Management Processes with Safe Systems’ NetComply One® Solution.

15 Aug 2018
First National Bank in Olney, Illinois Strengthens Patch Management

First National Bank in Olney, Illinois Strengthens Patch Management and Enhances Compliance Posture with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

First National Bank in Olney, Illinois Strengthens Patch Management

Patch management has become more important than ever for financial institutions as the lack of an effective program has contributed significantly to the increase in the number of security breaches. The most popular software products are tested by hackers for weaknesses, and vendors have to constantly release security updates to keep these applications safe and secure. However, monitoring and managing patches can be a cumbersome, time-consuming process, especially for community financial institutions with limited IT staff.

This was the case for Rick Johnson, assistant vice president of IT at First National Bank in Olney, Illinois. He was spending a significant amount of time on patch management. In fact, it had nearly become a full-time job, and the bank was looking into hiring additional personnel to assist the IT department with this task. This led Johnson to search for an outsourced service provider who offered a comprehensive automated patch management solution designed specifically for community financial institutions.

New Call-to-actionFirst National Bank in Olney Success Story Get a Copy

“Maintaining patches became a very time consuming task for me, in addition to my other responsibilities at the institution,” said Rick Johnson. “We are in a rural location, and it was extremely challenging to find someone who could manage the network, understand compliance policies, and maintain patches in a timely manner.”

Automated Patch Management Solution

First National Bank in Olney selected Safe Systems’ NetComply® One IT network management solution to efficiently manage all important network tasks including automated patch management, network monitoring, qualified alerting, and detailed reporting. In addition, the bank utilizes the Security Baseline Service that is built into NetComply One and is designed to help streamline the essential task of maintaining server hardening by automating the process, including a testing phase and ticketing notification.

“To ensure the security of our network and successfully meet examiner expectations, we needed an outsourced provider who could support our IT initiatives and offer insight on compliance updates and changes,” said Johnson. “NetComply One ensures that we are up to date with our patches and other IT functions, so we can focus on more revenue generating activities at the bank without having to add extra staff. Since implementing Safe Systems, we have increased network performance and improved our overall compliance posture.”

For more information, download the full success story, First National Bank in Olney, Illinois Improves Patch Management and Compliance with Safe Systems NetComply One® Solution.

28 Mar 2018
Closing the Gap with RegTech

Closing the Gap: How RegTech Solutions Can Boost Your Institution’s Compliance

Closing the Gap with RegTech

With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC) InTREx program, recent updates to the Federal Financial Examination Council’s (FFIEC) Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT), and other regulatory expectations, financial institutions have a large responsibility to keep up with the evolving compliance landscape. While these laws and requirements were designed to improve risk controls, maintain capital and create a more transparent financial sector, many financial institutions have found managing regulatory compliance efforts is a resource consuming, expensive inefficiency.

These complex regulations, coupled with the increased use of technology within financial institutions, are forcing community banks and credit unions to find new ways to manage risk and remain compliant. The need to streamline compliance processes across the board has resulted in the development of a new technology product category: regulatory technology or RegTech.

RegTech Fills Compliance Gaps

While the financial services industry has made significant strides in the use of technology solutions, many have not adequately addressed regulatory issues and expectations, which has led to institutions performing manual processes to maintain compliance.

RegTech helps solve this issue for financial organizations by automating compliance tasks, reducing operational risks, streamlining reporting processes, and providing better oversight of their data. RegTech refers to a set of companies and solutions that address regulatory challenges through innovative technology in the financial services sector. This technology empowers organizations to make informed choices based on the actionable data provided through the systems. This data highlights the compliance risks the organization faces and how it mitigates and manages those risks.

While traditional solutions can be inflexible and require configuration when changes or enhancements are needed, RegTech solutions are agile and can easily keep up with the quickly evolving regulatory landscape. Using advanced technologies and analytics tools that extract, load and analyze data in a timely and efficient manner, financial institutions have the ability to stay up-to-date with regulatory and compliance guidelines and expectations, avoid costly fines, and save money by reducing the need to manually dredge through data.

RegTech has the potential to continually monitor capacity, provide close to real-time insights through deep learning and artificial intelligence filters, and identify problems in advance rather than simply taking enforcement action after the fact. Identifying potential threats to financial security early enables financial institutions to minimize the risks and costs that are associated with lost funds and data breaches.

Characteristics of RegTech Solutions

By automating compliance processes, RegTech solutions are truly addressing a gap in the financial services market. Some key characteristics of RegTech solutions include:

  • Combined use of real-time information with algorithms and analytics as well as even social media and biometrics, which has transformed how customer due diligence is done and how anti-fraud measures are determined;
  • The agility to combine complex information from banks and regulatory agencies to automate the prediction of potential risk areas;
  • Customizable and easy to integrate into a variety of environments;
  • A reporting function that allows institutions to easily configure, customize and generate reports to meet examiner expectations; and
  • A cloud-based solution to help financial institutions maintain, manage and back-up data remotely, while ensuring all data is secure in a cost-efficient manner.

According to research by FinTech Global, investment in RegTech has more than tripled over the last five years. Since regulators are now demanding a higher level of transparency, technology solutions that streamline this process are of the utmost importance. When community banks and credit unions are able to simplify regulatory processes, compliance costs are reduced and the bank’s staff is able to decrease time spent on manual tasks. Ultimately, this increases the effectiveness and the efficiency of compliance efforts which leads to more flexibility and new growth opportunities for financial institutions.

For more information, download our white paper, The New Era of RegTech: Building Compliance into Your Financial Institution’s Processes.

Free White Paper

The New Era of RegTech

Building Compliance into Your Financial Institution’s Processes
Free White Paper

14 Mar 2018
aWhy Outsourcing IT Network Management is the Answer to Your Financial Institutions Compliance Woes

Why Outsourcing IT Network Management is the Answer to Your Financial Institution’s Compliance Woes

Why Outsourcing IT Network Management is the Answer to Your Financial Institutions Compliance Woes

Community banks and credit unions are growing accustomed to the strenuous regulatory reviews they must go through each year. However, they continue to struggle with managing an evolving set of government regulations and guidelines. In fact, according to the 2018 Community Bank and Credit Union Information Technology Outlook survey we conducted in the fourth quarter of 2017, 32% of respondents claim this is currently their greatest IT compliance challenge. Audits and exams, including internal audits, are designed to help ensure a financial institution’s environment is sound and compliant and that daily practices are in line with those standards. As a result, the entire exam process, from preparation to providing accurate responses to reviewing and remediating findings, can be an extremely time consuming and stressful process to complete.

Preparing for an exam has evolved into a time consuming task. Agencies are requesting an increasing number of documents and reports before the exam even begins. According to survey results, approximately 60% of respondents were asked to prepare more than 40 items for each exam or audit; and 31% of respondents indicated that they were tasked with preparing up to 40 items. With 48% of survey respondents preparing for and responding to between 11-20 exams per year, exam preparation is becoming a full-time task, one that can be overwhelming for a financial institution with a small IT department.

With these limited resources, many community financial institutions struggle to efficiently administer IT tasks and meet examiner expectations. To counter these mounting pressures, community financial institutions are looking for ways to more efficiently manage their networks and meet regulatory requirements.

Automating Exam Prep and Reporting

To help ensure community financial institutions operate more efficiently, securely and compliantly, IT professionals are implementing network management systems designed specifically for financial institutions to further decrease costs, increase performance, and improve their compliance posture. Utilizing such applications will increase efficiencies by automating the myriad of tasks associated with exams and regulatory requirements. Systems with built-in automated intelligence eliminate the need for IT staff to directly administer challenging and time-consuming tasks such as patch management, anti-malware updates, and reporting.


Network management systems designed with compliance in mind are able to account for updates to banking regulations and changes as they occur, which allows financial institutions to stay ahead of the curve and ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements. A comprehensive network management system can also automate, produce and manage custom reports for exams. Having a solution in place that automates reporting functions and requirements and is able to produce custom reports based on FFIEC requirements makes preparing for exams more efficient. Increased visibility to the network helps bank IT managers streamline processes and provide proper documentation to examiners. In addition, providing financial executives with the ability to receive live information for reporting purposes not only saves time but also improves operational efficiencies.

Regardless of location and size, banks and credit unions are all subject to largely the same regulations, and regulatory agencies are continually changing and increasing guidance requirements. It’s also no secret that governing agencies have become more stringent in their exams in the last several years and have been liberal in issuing citations to community financial organizations that have lapses or are not meeting regulations. Meeting expectations and adequately preparing for an exam are top concerns for many financial institutions. To help ease these compliance challenges and streamline compliance-related activities, financial institutions should adopt applications that will increase efficiencies with automation.




White Paper Download

2018 Community Bank IT Outlook

Primary Research and Analysis of Your IT Priorities in 2018
White Paper Download

11 Oct 2017
Blue Ridge Bank Improves IT Network Management Process

Blue Ridge Bank Improves IT Network Management Process with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

Blue Ridge Bank Improves IT Network Management Process

Financial institutions rely on technology and their IT personnel to maintain hardware and software and ensure that all systems are functioning optimally when needed. The IT department is also responsible for monitoring an array of on-going network activities like updating antivirus protection, conducting IT network management, efficient patch management, and ensuring email security, to name a few.

As a result, the network administrator position has become one of the most important within financial institutions. However, some community banks only have one person running their IT departments, putting the bank at risk if that person goes on vacation, gets sick, changes jobs, or goes on extended leave.

Blue Ridge Bank, a $112 million institution based in Walhalla, South Carolina, knows about this scenario all too well following the departure of its long-time IT administrator back in December 2016. Following his departure, the bank recognized the need to decentralize the management of its network system by finding a partner with the right expertise and knowledge to efficiently and effectively maintain its system.

Solution

The bank sought a trusted technology partner that clearly understood IT and compliance processes for financial institutions and had the expertise to monitor and manage the network efficiently. The bank’s new CEO had previous experience working with Safe Systems while at another bank and recommended they contact the outsourced IT provider. The bank chose to partner with Safe Systems and utilize its NetComply® One IT network management solution.

“Partnering with Safe Systems was an easy decision for us. We liked that the system could increase our network’s performance and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements while also maintaining patch management, qualified alerting, and reporting,” said Eva McGowan, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Blue Ridge Bank. “In addition, the 24/7 monitoring feature that alerts us of any anomalies, unauthorized devices connected to the network, server issues, or any power issues has been a huge time saver for our institution.”

Result

Blue Ridge Bank reported a seamless implementation process of NetComply One and reports that its staff is very pleased with the user-friendly interface. Safe Systems loaded the system on all of the bank’s workstations and servers remotely, and provided thorough training on NetComply One to help the staff understand what to look for and how to manage any network issues that might arise.

Since implementing NetComply One, Blue Ridge Bank has realized significant improvements in the overall management of the network. The bank’s in-house staff no longer has to manage patches manually, monitor workstations, or troubleshoot network issues on daily basis, allowing them to focus on more revenue-generating activities for the bank.

“NetComply One has truly been a game changer for our bank by helping us to achieve our technology and compliance goals and better serve our customers,” said McGowan. “Our Safe Systems strategic advisor has made helpful recommendations on how our bank can improve our processes; implement new technologies and services; and stay abreast of all emerging regulations and trends in the industry. Partnering with Safe Systems has been a terrific experience for our bank.”




7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

This is a free white paper that addresses key issues smaller financial institutions face when managing their networks and the benefits of outsourcing these tasks to a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.


7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

27 Sep 2017
Debunking the Top 5 Myths about Outsourced IT Network Management Systems

Debunking the Top 5 Myths about Outsourced IT Network Management Systems

Debunking the Top 5 Myths about Outsourced IT Network Management Systems

To manage complex IT networks, bank and credit union IT administrators need the proper tools to monitor the network, maintain patches, apply anti-malware, and troubleshoot network issues effectively. With constant technological change and increasingly strict regulatory guidelines, many community financial institutions struggle to efficiently administer these tasks and meet examiner expectations.

To counter these mounting pressures, community financial institutions are, or should be, looking for ways to more efficiently manage their networks. Often, outsourcing this function and the underlying IT operations proves to be the most effective and efficient solution, but some financial institutions are hesitant to outsource or have misconceptions when it comes to outsourcing their IT needs.

Some of the top myths about outsourcing IT network management include:

  1. Outsourcing is too expensive
  2. While it is true that outsourcing can be expensive, the benefits have proven to consistently outweigh the cost. Outsourcing IT network management removes routine, repetitive tasks for your staff so your team can work on higher value projects, and distributes the work to ensure you maintain business continuity. Additionally, an outsourced provider typically has certified engineers who will monitor devices, maintain patch updates, and help you resolve complex issues, even when your employees are away from the office.

  3. A local provider is better because they can come to our location to fix a problem
  4. It is simply no longer necessary for IT partners to be onsite to manage a network. In fact, it may be difficult to find a local vendor with the banking technology and regulatory expertise required to meet examiner expectations.

    An experienced outsourced IT services provider can help your institution recover quickly from unexpected business outages in your community. If a disaster does occur, local providers actually add a level of risk as they could also be out of service as well, increasing your recovery time and putting your organization at risk. The right IT partner understands the nuances of the financial services industry and can provide uninterrupted service, no matter the distance or circumstance.

  5. Without a bad exam, everything must be okay
  6. Regardless of location and size, small community banks and credit unions are under most of the same regulations as larger institutions, forcing a small IT staff to be well-versed in all regulatory guidance from cybersecurity to disaster recovery to meet examiner expectations. Auditors and examiners expect thorough documentation to prove that the institution’s daily practices match its defined policies and procedures. Financial institutions should not wait for a negative review finding to take a proactive approach to network management. Working with service providers that have dedicated staff and experts who understand the financial industry’s regulatory requirements and best practices ensures the required planning and reporting is completed in a timely manner.

  7. Outsourcing replaces the institution’s IT personnel
  8. There are hundreds of tasks that a small IT staff must complete on a regular basis to keep the bank’s operations running efficiently. Many community financial institutions have limited in-house resources dedicated to IT network functions. If a critical staff member goes on a vacation, is out sick, or leaves the bank, it can be difficult for the institution to manage the network effectively and maintain compliance.

    Outsourcing helps to augment the bank’s current staff to act as an extension of the IT team. An IT partner can provide bank IT employees with more time to work on strategic projects, support front-line employees and focus on other revenue-generating activities. With an outsourced IT service provider, financial institutions gain an entire team of IT professionals equipped with advanced technology experience to support their IT needs. The staff is empowered, not replaced.

  9. It’s better to do everything with the core provider
  10. Without a doubt, the core banking platform is central to all financial institutions. However, you may be taking unnecessary risk by relying on them for all your needs. An IT services provider can help alleviate the stress by evaluating the infrastructure of the bank without bias, and eliminating the unnecessary hardware, processes and tasks, helping with overall management and ongoing cost. Whether it be network management, security, or compliance, it is unlikely your core will match the expertise a specialized partner can offer. Network management providers offer unbiased advice, while also diversifying your risk.

 
Many financial institutions struggle with choosing the right solutions partner. Smaller institutions in particular can benefit from outsourcing or partnering with a provider who offers network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks and credit unions. Having a system in place that offers key features such as patch management, third party patching, antivirus, hardware and software inventory management, vulnerability remediation, and compliance-focused reporting to verify that your financial institution’s network is adhering to your policies and procedures is critical in today’s environment. 



Safe Systems’ NetComply® One IT Network Management service is designed to help ensure community financial institutions operate even more efficiently, securely and compliantly, while also decreasing costs, increasing performance, and improving an organization’s overall compliance posture. NetComply One streamlines your IT strategy and sets you up for success. Safe Systems’ IT network management solution was built using experience from managing IT networks for more than 300 financial institutions. Safe Systems’ combined years of banking knowledge and regulatory expertise allows us to truly understand banking IT operations, the unique platform configurations of financial institutions as well as the enhanced regulatory requirements. 



For more information, read our white paper, “Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions.”




Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions



13 Sep 2017
The Importance of Network Management Systems in Community Banks and Credit Unions

The Importance of Network Management Systems in Community Banks and Credit Unions

The Importance of Network Management Systems in Community Banks and Credit Unions

The Importance of Network Management Systems in Community Banks and Credit Unions

The advancement of mobile phones, Wi-Fi, remote deposit capture, virtual infrastructures, shared storage and the growing demand from customers to have 24/7 access to their financial lives has changed the business of banking. These changes have shifted the objectives of running a community financial institution away from simply needing to manage money and provide loans to include managing data and the IT networks that carry this information. From the teller line and the loan origination system, to the phone and alarm systems, most modern institutions are highly interconnected and must have a strong IT network infrastructure to offer a variety of services to their customers and keep operations running smoothly.

To ensure all systems are continuously functioning, it is important to monitor hardware and software for failures, viruses and malware, and stay up to date on required maintenance functions. Many IT professionals utilize network management systems to help streamline this process and more efficiently perform their day-to-day functions. A network management system is a set of hardware or software tools that allow an IT professional to supervise and manage the individual components of a network within a larger network management framework. These systems help to provide a deeper understanding of the network and all important applications to help improve performance and ensure security. Having a centralized solution in place that automatically reviews the network, sends alerts, issues tickets, and provides support and reporting for servers, workstations, network routers, switches, software and other devices is an integral and critical function in financial institutions today.

Key Components of a Network Management System for Financial Institutions

To help ensure community financial institutions operate more efficiently, securely and compliantly, IT professionals should implement a network management system designed specifically for financial institutions to further decrease costs, increase performance, and improve their compliance posture.

Some key components of a network management system include:

Get a CopyTop 3 IT Management Worries for CEOs in Banking - Get a Copy
  • Network Device Discovery — the ability to identify what devices are present on a network;
  • Network Device Monitoring — the ability to monitor at the device level to determine the health of network components and the extent to which their performance matches capacity plans and intra-enterprise service-level agreements (SLAs);
  • Network Performance Analysis — the ability to track performance indicators such as bandwidth utilization, packet loss, latency, availability and uptime of routers, switches and other Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) enabled devices;
  • Intelligent Notifications – the ability to configurable alerts that will respond to specific network scenarios by paging, emailing, calling or texting a network administrator;
  • Mobile and Cloud Support – the ability to offer mobile and cloud support is important for the financial industry because users require 24/7 access to their financial data no matter where they are;
  • Integration – the ability to easily integrate with a variety of technologies in place at the institution and work seamlessly together;
  • Automated Intelligence – the ability to eliminate the need for IT staff to directly administer challenging and time consuming tasks such as patch management, anti-malware updates, and reporting. Automating these functions saves time while ensuring all patches are up to date. It also reduces the device exposure through server hardening;
  • Centralized Monitoring Console – should include remote control access and monitoring capabilities;
  • Dual Factor Authentication — enabling secure log-in to the system;
  • Enhanced Reporting Functions — featuring reporting based on FFIEC requirements for IT audits; and
  • Security services — to protect the institution servers. 

All of these features provide IT professionals with greater visibility into the network, increased security of the bank’s servers, and time-saving automation to streamline processes and focus on more valuable tasks. Community banks and credit unions are able to keep up with updates and changes to the system through alerts that notify IT personnel when there is a change or threat to the network. In addition, many network management systems are designed with compliance in mind to account for updates to banking regulations and changes as they occur. This allows financial institutions to stay ahead of the curve and ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements.

Benefits of Outsourcing the Oversight of Network Management Systems

New Call-to-actionSuccess Story: Peoples Bank of Georgia - Get a Copy

While the evolution of network management systems has made many processes and procedures more streamlined and efficient, the management of network management systems has also become a full-time, demanding responsibility. A financial institution’s IT staff must understand the ever-growing complexity of IT operations and applications, continuously changing regulatory requirements and FFIEC compliance guidelines. IT network administrators must be familiar with the challenges presented by overseeing networks that extend through multiple environments and must also understand concepts such as application delivery optimization and data analytics.

Even though the list of duties and level of complexity has grown substantially in recent years, many community financial institutions still rely on one or two-person staffs to manage all of the institution’s IT operations. Finding, training, and retaining qualified staff to manage an IT network can also demand considerable time and energy from a bank’s management team, which redirects valuable resources needed to support customers and banking operations.

With these mounting pressures, community financial institutions are, or at least should be, looking for ways to more efficiently manage their networks. Often they determine outsourcing this function and the underlying IT operations is the most effective and efficient solution. Community banks and credit unions can benefit in many ways from outsourcing with a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community financial institutions and are also able to act as an extension of their organization and help augment internal IT resources. Such partners bring knowledge, additional resources and compliance expertise to help community banks and credit unions control and manage their complex IT environments and operate in today’s financial services arena with a greater degree of confidence.

An IT network management provider who is specialized in the financial services industry truly understands the evolving complexity of community banks’ IT operations and will have the knowledge to do an in-depth review of institution’s network environment. The provider can offer additional support in co-managing IT operations, providing financial executives with the assurance that their institution’s IT network is functioning efficiently, optimally, securely, and is in compliance with industry regulations.

A technology service provider can also help consolidate, automate and manage many of the administrative functions that are so time-consuming for in-house staff. Automating patch management and reporting saves bank IT administrators a great deal of time. In addition, providing financial executives the ability to receive live information for diagnostic or reporting purposes, as well as remote access to the network not only saves time and improves efficiencies, but also helps meet the responsibilities of financial IT managers for documenting the environment for regulators.

Compliance Considerations for a Network Management System

Regardless of location and size, banks and credit unions are all subject to largely the same regulations, which are continually changing. Meeting expectations and adequately preparing for an exam are top concerns for many financial institutions. The entire exam process, from preparation to providing accurate responses to reviewing and remediating findings, can be an extremely time-consuming and stressful process to complete. A network management system can help ensure community financial institutions increase efficiencies by automating the myriad of tasks associated with exams and regulatory requirements, and produce custom reports based on FFIEC requirements. Network management systems designed with compliance in mind are able to account for updates to banking regulations and changes as they occur, which allows financial institutions to stay ahead of the curve and ensure adherence to all regulatory requirements.

In addition, due to the volume and sophistication of cyber threats, the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) designed the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT), which plays a major part in helping financial institutions identify risk and understand their cybersecurity preparedness. The CAT provides a clear set of standards to ensure an institution’s network systems are managed efficiently and compliantly. Network management systems help organizations comply with the CAT by offering protections such as risk identification, network border protection, inventory of assets, auditing of the network, dual-factor authentication, and remote access. Failure to comply with FFIEC guidelines puts a financial institution at risk of doing poorly on exams, being written up for not following protocols, and spending large amounts of time correcting violations, which can all lead to reputational damage and loss of revenue.

Free White Paper

The New Era of RegTech

 Building Compliance into Your Financial Institution’s Processes
Get a Copy

Service Provider Considerations

Selecting an IT services provider is challenging and many financial executives struggle with choosing the optimal solution to work with — and truly benefit — their organization. When looking for a technology service provider, some areas to consider include:

  • Does the provider offer flexibility in their support services that align with your organization’s IT needs?
  • Does the technology service provider have knowledge and expertise of all the regulatory requirements of financial institutions?
  • Are their support center staff and system engineers well-versed in network and security technologies, as well as understand the unique technical requirements of your core banking platform and ancillary applications?

Financial institutions rely heavily on technology to deliver financial services to their customers and members. Delivering the right solutions in a timely and cost-effective manner can be a challenge for some. Resources are limited, the top talent is hard to find, and at the same time, network management systems continue to evolve and change, and security risks and examiner expectations continue to grow. Partnering with companies that can provide the tools and resources necessary for financial institutions to help manage technology and reduce burdens, provides greater visibility of the network management system as well as the documentation needed to verify the institution is adhering to regulations.

Ultimately, network management systems that are designed exclusively for community financial institutions can assist in taking the pressure off of increased examiner expectations and the increase in technology complexity. These systems enable community banks and credit unions to thrive in the complex world of banking by continuing to provide the hands-on attention to customers and members that set community financial institutions apart from the competition.

21 Jun 2017
Safe Systems Security Baseline Service Automates Server Hardening for a Secure Server Operating Environment

Safe Systems’ Security Baseline Service Automates Server Hardening for a Secure Server Operating Environment

Safe Systems Security Baseline Service Automates Server Hardening for a Secure Server Operating Environment

In today’s technological landscape, where every computing resource is online and susceptible to attack and malicious activity, server hardening is an important process for financial institutions to have in place. Every day servers are targeted by harmful malware, ransomware, and other malicious attacks.

The best defense against these threats is to ensure that server hardening is a well-established practice within your community bank or credit union. Server hardening is the process of enhancing server security through a variety of means, which results in a more secure server operating environment due to the advanced security measures that are put in place during the hardening process.

One challenge financial institutions face is that running and maintaining server hardening services strains the resources of a limited IT staff. Banks and credit unions are already swamped with ensuring their servers are secure, which includes examining vulnerability assessment reports, fixing numerous findings, troubleshooting services, and addressing patch management, antivirus, and other activities on an ongoing basis.

To help streamline this time-consuming but essential process, Safe Systems designed its unique Security Baseline Service to work with its NetComply® One IT network management service to help automate the server hardening process. The Security Baseline Service leverages aggregate vulnerability scan data and remediates vulnerabilities across the service’s customer base. The service implementation includes a testing phase and ticketing notification to alert the institution of remediated vulnerabilities to help alleviate attacks and ensure networks are secure and up to date.

The Security Baseline process includes:

  • Remediation of emerging security vulnerabilities
  • Vulnerabilities identified by Safe Systems’ and its partners, which includes:
    • Evaluating commonly found vulnerabilities on a monthly basis
    • Determining significance of vulnerabilities
    • Writing remediation procedures for significant commonly found vulnerabilities
  • Monthly remediation across all subscribed devices
  • Ticket generated detailing remediation application results
  • Comprehensive report detailing individual fixes
  • Remediation of vulnerabilities outside our sampling group available upon request at an hourly rate

Many of the vulnerability findings banks receive are often related to software issues that are addressed by updates or patches that pass Safe Systems’ testing procedure and then seamlessly executed on a daily basis. To ensure compliance, these patches and processes are implemented based on the FFIEC’s patch management guidelines outlined in the 2016 Information Security Booklet.

Financial institutions utilizing Security Baseline also benefit from the prolonged testing period Safe Systems uses to verify that Service Packs and new Windows builds will work with existing software. This ensures updates will be supported by the networks and any new features introduced will not cause problems for the institutions. The extra level of testing helps banks and credit unions avoid unnecessary IT challenges and network issues, reducing downtime and freeing up IT staff to focus on more pressing activities.
At Safe Systems, our goal is to reduce the amount of time internal IT staff must spend on time consuming activities such as examining vulnerability assessment reports, troubleshooting services and patch management issues. We are constantly working to create automation to provide the best experience to our customers and ensure all networks are secure and in compliance with government regulations.




7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

This is a free white paper that addresses key issues smaller financial institutions face when managing their networks and the benefits of outsourcing these tasks to a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.


7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

15 Mar 2017
Oconee State Bank Maintains Compliance

Oconee State Bank Maintains Compliance and Improves Network Efficiency with Safe Systems’ NetComply One Solution

Oconee State Bank Maintains Compliance

To manage banks’ IT networks today, IT administrators need the proper tools to monitor the network, maintain patches, apply anti-malware, and troubleshoot network issues effectively. Under the pressure of constant technological changes and increasingly strict regulatory guidelines, many community banks struggle to efficiently administer these tasks and meet examiner expectations.

Oconee State Bank felt this pressure and sought a technology partner that was proven within the community banking environment and that clearly understood the challenges it faced from a regulatory standpoint. The bank had initially worked with Safe Systems on the design and installation of its first network in 1997. Over the years, as regulations evolved and IT networks became more complex, Oconee State Bank required additional resources to help with the day-to-day monitoring and overall management of its network. Based on its positive experience with Safe Systems, the bank added Safe Systems’ IT network management service to increase efficiencies and maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.

“As a community bank, I want the relationships with our vendors to be built on loyalty, honesty and integrity,” said Marisa Reynolds, Senior Vice President at Oconee State Bank. “We’ve stayed with Safe Systems for so long because they embody all of these values. I can always count on them to provide quality technology, expert guidance and excellent customer service to our team.”

Solution

Oconee State Bank had already successfully implemented a previous version of Safe Systems’ NetComply® IT network management service, which enabled the bank’s staff to efficiently manage all important network tasks and provide proper documentation to regulators for IT examinations.

In 2016, Safe Systems released the new version of the service, NetComply One. The new solution improved upon the patch management, qualified alerting, and reporting capabilities of the prior version while also offering much faster and smoother remote access capabilities, which allows bank staff to conveniently access the network to solve any issues that arise.

As one of the first banks to go through the conversion process, Oconee State Bank reported a seamless conversion to the new system and the staff was very pleased with the user-friendly interface. Safe Systems provided thorough training on NetComply One, and after a single session with its strategic advisor, the bank was up and running on the new system.

“We thought the conversion to NetComply One would be a long, complicated process, but that wasn’t the case at all,” said Jamie McFalls, IT Specialist at Oconee State Bank. “Safe Systems ran the conversion overnight and after just one week’s time of using both the old and new systems, we crossed over to NetComply One and never looked back.”



Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions



Results

Since adding the NetComply One service, Oconee State Bank has already realized significant improvements in its examination scores and overall management of the network. Additionally, the staff no longer has to manage patches manually because all patches are done quickly and efficiently through automation.

“The patch management capabilities have been a big help to us when we’re doing scans, audits or exams because we want to make sure all of our machines are fully patched and secure,” said McFalls. “With NetComply One, we have better examinations and have achieved a higher level of compliance because our patches are completed much faster than if we had to manage them manually. With these results, I can say that NetComply One easily paid for itself in just the first 30 days.”

The qualified alerting feature has also helped Oconee State Bank reduce the number of tickets and alerts it receives which frees up internal IT staff to work on other things.

“We initially didn’t want to give up too much control over the network, but adding Safe Systems to our team has been a terrific experience,” said Reynolds. “NetComply One has truly been a game changer for our bank by helping us to achieve our IT and compliance goals and better serve our customers.”

08 Mar 2017
SSAI

The Next Big Thing in Banking: Safe Systems’ Automated Intelligence with NetComply One

SSAI

Automation plays an important role in helping to ensure community banks and credit unions operate efficiently, securely and compliantly. IT staff put a large amount of time and effort into troubleshooting services and addressing patch management, antivirus, backup issues, and other activities on a daily basis. To help integrate all of these moving parts and ensure they work together without more time-consuming, human intervention, Safe Systems designed its unique Safe Systems Automated Intelligence (SSAI) to work with its NetComply One IT network management service, as well as across its other compliance and security solutions.

NetComply One helps financial institutions further decrease costs, increase performance, and improve their compliance posture, while keeping the network up-to-date. With NetComply One, SSAI works to automate, enhance, and make more efficient responses to device alerts by reviewing log content and when possible, automating a corrective action, thus creating operational efficiencies and avoiding downtime. SSAI also runs proactive maintenance and auto-fixes where needed, to drastically reduce the need for reactive processes. Here are four key ways that SSAI works with NetComply One to help banks more efficiently manage their networks:

  1. Reduce Manual Intervention
  2. For a network to efficiently operate in today’s complex financial environment, all systems must seamlessly work together. In the past, manual processes and maintenance would have to be a reoccurring action that required staff to spend time daily making sure each system or subsystem was working properly. With SSAI, all of these actions are automated, enabling personnel to focus on more revenue-generating activities for the financial institution. SSAI helps automate the on-boarding process for new machines, equipment and solutions added to the network while reducing the amount of labor required.

  3. Eliminate Network Downtime
  4. In managing and monitoring a network, service issues are typically the most common source of alerts. SSAI can address 96% of all service issues without human intervention. The time required to find, correct and resolve an email or printing issue can literally be reduced from hours to mere seconds with SSAI. The software doesn’t simply restart the service to address an issue, rather, it leverages built-in business intelligence to address and correct any issue causing a service stoppage. Only after the system has exhausted a series of automated if/then logic steps does the system automatically submit a ticket for human assistance.




    7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management



    7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

    This is a free white paper that addresses key issues smaller financial institutions face when managing their networks and the benefits of outsourcing these tasks to a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.


    7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

  5. Control Costs and Save Time
  6. Safe Systems currently monitors more than 20,000 devices and roughly 80% of all issues addressed come through our monitoring systems. Just by implementing Safe Systems NetComply One with SSAI, the number of alerts sent to an IT support team is decreased by an average of 89%. By effectively correcting known problems and only notifying your team about more significant issues, SSAI creates tremendous value for your institution, your employees and your infrastructure.

  7. Be Part of the Safe Systems Community
  8. At Safe Systems, our time troubleshooting services, patch management issues, antivirus issues, backup issues, etc. has dropped dramatically over the years as a direct result of SSAI. We are constantly working to create automated fixes for any issues that arise to provide the best experience to our customers. Whenever a bank has a unique issue that requires a staff member to intervene, our team has been known to create a script to instruct SSAI to fix the issue automatically, which allows all customers to reap the benefits of the automation moving forward. Being a part of the NetComply One service means you have a team that is highly motivated to automate based on actionable data.
    Our customers also have the opportunity to contribute ideas and identify new areas that can enhance SSAI. When speaking with your Strategic Advisor or interacting with our team at our user conferences and symposiums, we are always open to your suggestions to help us improve our automation and better serve your institution. Don’t hesitate to discuss possibilities with our engineers in the Network Operations Center (NOC).

15 Feb 2017
6 Ways IT Administrators Can Transition from a Tactical to Strategic Role

6 Ways IT Administrators Can Transition from a Tactical to Strategic Role

6 Ways IT Administrators Can Transition from a Tactical to Strategic Role

In today’s fast-paced, constantly evolving banking environment there is an increasing demand for IT administrators to play a larger and more strategic role with community financial institutions. This demand, largely driven by increased regulatory scrutiny, is requiring IT administrators to stay abreast of the latest technology and security solutions in an unprecedented way.

IT administrators are responsible for performing a variety of tasks including network monitoring, patch management, and malware protection, among others. They must maintain the day-to-day tactical activities and keep up with new technologies to ensure the bank’s network remains functional and secure, all while putting out fires and trouble-shooting everyday problems that arise within the institution.

While there is a business need to have IT administrators assume a more strategic role at the bank, they often have limited resources and only so many hours in a day. Below, I have outlined a few key areas that can help IT administrators make the transition:

Think Strategically

The transition to a more strategic role requires new skills and a different understanding of the institution and its goals. Instead of thinking about what do I need to accomplish today, IT administrators must begin to think about what needs to be accomplished within the next year; what are the financial institution’s main business objectives; and how can this be achieved with the help of the IT staff? Think of it as playing chess and always be thinking of your next move. Asking the right questions allows the IT admin to understand the big picture and focus on what will most impact the bank’s long-term goals.

Have a Balanced Skillset

IT administrators should expand their focus beyond the technological side of the bank to include a focus on compliance and how it impacts the technology solutions the institution must consume. By aligning compliance requirements, IT admins can better apply their technical expertise to establish themselves as an indispensable part of the institution’s staff. For example, consider how your technology solutions supports your business continuity plan (BCP). Will your current solutions help to achieve your goals outlined in your BCP and restore critical business functions in the event of a natural disaster?



Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions



Gain Senior Management Support

To become a true, strategic contributor requires buy-in from management. IT administrators need the support of senior management and must be able to get the management team involved with the technology, security, and compliance aspects of the bank. Participating in IT steering committee meetings presents an opportunity for the IT admin to provide new ideas and information and communicate the importance of the board and senior management’s involvement. These quarterly meetings typically cover the bank’s strategic IT roadmap to include: the current IT situation, ongoing technology projects, as well as pending (and emerging) security and compliance issues. This is the ideal time to meet with the management team and showcase a well-rounded skillset that can benefit the bank.

Understand Evolving Technology

IT administrators should do research to truly understanding how technology is evolving and how new technologies and products can benefit the financial institution. One example is the evolution of email and email platforms. In the past, it was common practice to host email in-house. However, new technology has made email a more commoditized product, and it is now very common to have a third-party provider host and manage email platforms. While IT admins may recognize this, they shouldn’t assume others within their institution do as well. Understanding and sharing this knowledge is a strategic move that can save the financial institution money and additional resources in the future. A strategic thinker recognizes the significance of this and in turn, encourages senior management and the board of directors to move in this direction.

Delegate Responsibilities

A financial institution’s IT department bears a host of responsibilities, but often has difficulty in maintaining adequate staff to complete the work. Recognizing this need, knowing when to build a team or outsource, and then selecting a trusted IT partner who can help alleviate the day-to-day pressure is a strategic move that can benefit the entire organization. For example, many IT administrators partner with third parties to help with the time consuming task of patching security vulnerabilities on the network. Having the additional support enables IT personnel to concentrate on the overall direction of the bank’s IT initiatives, meet regulatory expectations, and focus on how the bank can continue to advance in the industry.

Take Advantage of Resources

All too often, IT administrators become so entrenched in their day-to-day work that they neglect their own professional development. The good news is that there is a wealth of resources available today, such as industry white papers, blogs, news articles, user conferences and tradeshows, as well as peer groups and other networking opportunities, all of which can help with staying abreast of the always evolving areas of technology, compliance, and security. It is important to justify the budget and time for participating in these type of activities.

In conclusion, having an impact on the overall IT strategy of the financial institution requires a unique set of skills paired with a strategic way of thinking. Increasingly, IT admins are being challenged to think in new ways and apply their knowledge beyond what they have historically been asked to do. By building on their established foundation of technical knowledge to foster a deeper understanding of the banking business and knowing when to hire or outsource IT administrators will increase their contribution to the institution’s success.

20 Jul 2016

The Need for Proper Patch Testing

All software applications require updates, (or patches), from vendors to keep these applications safe and secure, which means all financial institutions need to have an efficient and effective patch management program in place. One of the main components of an effective patch management program is patch testing. All patches should be carefully evaluated and tested prior to deployment to ensure new features introduced will not cause problems for you bank.

Without a proper patch testing procedure in place, financial institutions open themselves up to serious security breaches and compliance issues. The natural reaction is to make sure that all patches are installed as soon as they are released, but effective patch management is not that straightforward.

Patches are not always perfect. When providers attempt to fix one problem, they may inadvertently break something else. A bad patch can break a financial institution’s applications and disrupt daily processes that could ultimately impact the customer experience. A recent Forbes article highlighted the potential downfall of rushing patches to production devices. The piece detailed how many organizations that automatically installed the latest Windows 7 update to their systems experienced significant problems, including not being able to start or reboot their PCs. With a patch testing process, these situations could have been avoided.

How to Test Patches

To effectively test patches, banks should put together a test group in their own environment that is a representative sample of all the types of machines and applications in use. This test group should receive newly-released patches before they are rolled out to the entire financial institution network. This helps your institution verify that a patch will not cause more problems than it is worth and prevents the majority of devices from receiving bad patches.

Aside from the practical reasons for testing patches, there is also a regulatory compliance element. Having a test group is a minimum requirement according to the FFIEC guidance on patch management.



Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management


Automated Assistance with Patch Management

Many banks and credit unions find managing patches and maintaining the appropriate settings for patches to work properly challenging and time consuming. This challenge has hindered many banks from having a stellar program, which has led to less than desirable patch scores. When auditors and examiners come to your institution, you want to ensure that all of your devices are up to date.

Automating the critical patch management process enables banks to gain efficiencies in the back of the house by significantly reducing time spent manually patching all systems within the institution. IT staff can use the time previously spent on menial patching tasks to focus on profit-generating activities that drive business forward. Additionally, automated solutions operate 24/7 and are less impacted by human error or employee absence, leading to increased security and a better overall compliance posture.

Working with an outsourced service provider, such as Safe Systems, provides a comprehensive patching process that delivers quick, accurate and secure patch updates to all workstations and servers, while mitigating the multiple risks of running unpatched programs and automating the time-consuming process of testing and deploying new patches. Safe Systems maintains all the settings required for patches to work, which diminishes administrative overhead and testing time. Furthermore, we are able leverage our scale to create a massive pool of test devices across a broad spectrum of environments. This allows us to test patches far more thoroughly than any other financial institution partner, and results in less downtime for all customers due to problem patches. Safe Systems’ financial institution focus means we test against the top core provider applications, and can quickly detect when a patch causes issues with these programs.

Timely and well-controlled patch management is a vital element of a comprehensive Information Security program. By partnering with Safe Systems, you can avoid the pitfalls of poor patch management, benefit from our efficiencies and enhance your institution’s security.

01 Jun 2016

Safe Systems Launches Enhanced IT Network Management Service for Community Banks, Credit Unions

Chris Banta
Director of Security
and Automation
Marshall Jones
Director of Managed
Services Development

Enhanced IT Network Management

To help ensure community banks and credit unions operate even more efficiently, securely and compliantly, we have enhanced our solutions to better meet our customers’ needs. Our new NetComply One managed IT offering is now available to help financial institutions further decrease costs, increase performance, and improve their compliance posture. We have rebuilt our entire IT network management service using insights gained while managing IT networks for more than 300 financial institutions over the past eight years.

NetComply One

NetComply One removes the burden of maintaining IT networks for community banks by further enabling Safe Systems to manage and monitor a client’s network hardware and software in a holistic manner. This eliminates the need for clients to directly administer challenging and time consuming tasks internally including patch management, anti-malware (optional add-on), and reporting. NetComply One uses automated patch management services to deliver patches for both Microsoft and common 3rd party applications. In addition, it reduces the device exposure through server hardening. Educational resources and Account Management services help prepare banks for IT audits and exams, and reporting shaped by FFIEC guidance all help the bank to meet and exceed regulatory standards.

Additional NetComply One Services

  • A centralized monitoring console with remote control access and monitoring capabilities
  • Dual factor authentication to log into the console
  • More comprehensive network monitoring and alerting function
  • Account Management services including quarterly control self-assessment preparation and meetings, which consist of audits, reviews, and executive meetings
  • Enhanced reporting functions, with reporting based on FFIEC requirements for IT audits
  • Security baseline services to ensure institution servers are secure
  • Online education material and live webinars on compliance and technology

Qualified Alerting

NetComply One also provides enhanced qualified alerting capabilities, which reduces the number of false alerts clients must review, making for a more streamlined and efficient level of service. Through this qualified alerting function Safe Systems engineers will review and validate alerts before they are sent to the bank, nearly eliminating all of the noisy false positives and providing less distractions for the bank’s IT personnel. Safe Systems will continue to constantly monitor and alert on hardware failures, back-up failures, software updates, PC issues, servers, routers, switches, and more.

Redesigned Platform

In addition to delivering an enhanced set of services, Safe Systems has redesigned its underlying IT management and reporting platform to better support Microsoft Windows 10. This technology enhancement is designed to make it easier to implement future platform integrations. We have always brought outstanding IT network monitoring, alerting and reporting to our community financial institution clients. Our research revealed that clients who allowed Safe Systems to fully administer patch management services consistently out-scored other institutions on audits. The integration of our patch management best practices into NetComply One offers bankers a superior way to run their IT networks, enhance IT security, reduce risks, and minimize time spent with auditors.



Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions



09 Mar 2016

Why Should My Small Community Bank Outsource IT Network Management? Part I

The Use of Technology in the Community Banking World Has Become Widespread

While its evolution has made many processes and procedures more streamlined and efficient, managing a financial institution’s IT network has also become a full time, demanding responsibility. A community bank’s IT staff must understand the ever-growing complexity of IT operations and applications, continuously changing regulatory requirements and FFIEC compliance guidelines. Even with all these important responsibilities, many community banks only have one or two people to manage all of the IT operations. Even further, many may not have banking backgrounds.

Regardless of location and size, small community banks are subject to largely the same regulations as larger institutions. Regulatory agencies are continuously changing and increasing guidance regarding cybersecurity and are liberal in issuing citations to financial institutions that have lapses or are not meeting regulations.

With these changes, smaller financial institutions are, or should be, looking for ways to more efficiently manage their IT networks and compliance procedures. Oftentimes they determine outsourcing the management of underlying IT, security and compliance operations is the most effective and efficient solution. Smaller financial institutions can benefit in many ways from outsourcing with a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.

Finding, training and retaining qualified staff to manage an IT network can eat up considerable time and energy from your bank’s management team, taking away valuable time needed to support customers and banking operations. Maintaining the knowledge and expertise of the evolving IT landscape is a time-consuming endeavor and small institutions trying to manage this function internally often find it nearly impossible to remain competitive with their technology in today’s banking environment. Outsourcing underlying IT operations to a knowledgeable banking IT provider eliminates management’s time involvement in recruiting IT personnel, training new IT personnel on the unique technology and compliance aspects of banking, and the on-going issues associated with competitive compensation.

Any time a bank system is down, be it the teller system, WAN circuit, or loan documentation system, it causes a disruption to the financial institution. Such disruptions can be greatly reduced by working with a knowledgeable service provider. The right service provider can monitor and proactively identify many technical issues on network devices, and address or fix the problem prior to failure. This results in less downtime, improved employee efficiency and a consistently high level of customer service. 


For more information on how outsourcing can benefit your community bank, please download our complimentary white paper, 7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management.




7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

This is a free white paper that addresses key issues smaller financial institutions face when managing their networks and the benefits of outsourcing these tasks to a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

 
 

08 Mar 2016

Why Should My Small Community Bank Outsource IT Network Management? Part II

With so many hardware advances, software choices and requirements from your core banking software provider and other banking software vendors, determining what is right for your institution has become more complicated than ever. An IT services provider can help alleviate this stress by evaluating the infrastructure of the bank and eliminating the unnecessary hardware, processes and tasks. This helps with the overall management of the institution by simplifying management needs, reducing ongoing costs and maintenance management.

Selecting who to trust and depend on when deciding to partner with an IT services provider is challenging, especially for community bankers. Many bankers struggle with choosing the right solution that will work with and truly benefit their financial institution.

Smaller community financial institutions can benefit from outsourcing or partnering with a provider who offers network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks. Having a system in place that offers key features such as patch management, third party patching, antivirus, hardware and software inventory management, vulnerability remediation, and compliance-focused documentation reporting to verify that your financial institution’s network is adhering to your policies and procedures is critical in today’s environment.

The right IT service provider should offer your bank full support for the demands of banking technology and IT regulatory compliance by delivering your institution a solution that documents that your policies and procedures are being followed. A solution provider can help bridge the gap between a financial institutions everyday network administrative functions and the big picture goals of IT compliance and infrastructure planning.

For more information on how outsourcing can benefit your community bank, please download our complimentary white paper, 7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management.




7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

This is a free white paper that addresses key issues smaller financial institutions face when managing their networks and the benefits of outsourcing these tasks to a provider who offers IT network management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks.



7 Reasons Why Small Community Banks Should Outsource IT Network Management

 
 

03 Dec 2015

Can Smaller Community Banks Afford a Dedicated Resource to Manage IT Networks and Workstations?

Managing a financial institution’s IT network is a full time, demanding job! A community bank’s IT administrator needs to truly understand the increasing complexity of IT operations, continuously changing regulatory requirements and FFIEC compliance guidelines. However, many smaller community banks are often located in communities that lack the qualified personnel resources to efficiently manage their IT and regulatory responsibilities.

Can Smaller Community Banks Afford a Dedicated Resource to Manage IT Networks and Workstations?

In addition, community banks often can’t afford to have a team dedicated to IT management. Given the remote location of some community institutions, locating, training and retaining qualified individuals is a challenge, and many community banks cannot afford to pay qualified individuals enough to keep them. Banks that do try to maintain an in-house department often spend an inordinate amount of time and effort recruiting and training staff as community banks are faced with losing employees to competitive salaries in the marketplace.

However, regardless of location and size, these community banks are under the same regulations as larger institutions. Regulatory agencies are continuously changing and increasing regulations around cybersecurity and network management. In fact, the FFIEC recently released the Cybersecurity Assessment Tool (CAT) that is designed to help institutions identify their risks and determine their cybersecurity preparedness. Even though some regulatory agencies have indicated that completion of the tool is not mandatory, all the agencies have stated they intend to use the tool to assess an institution’s cybersecurity readiness, and have already begun to issue citations to financial institutions that have lapses or are not meeting regulations.

Smaller financial institutions should be looking for ways to more efficiently manage their IT networks and compliance strategies. Oftentimes, they determine outsourcing the management of IT needs and security risks is the most cost-efficient method.

Another factor small community banks should consider is the need for an outsourced provider to manage individual PC’s and workstations in addition to their IT networks. By assigning an outsourced provider to manage your banks’ individual PC’s and workstations, the chances of the workstations having issues is reduced, and easily resolved with no added stress to the bank’s IT team.

Given their modest internal resources, smaller community financial institutions can benefit from outsourcing or partnering with a provider who offers network and workstation management solutions exclusively tailored for community banks. Having a service in place that offers key features such as patch management, third party patching, antivirus, hardware and software inventory management, vulnerability remediation and compliance-focused reporting to verify that your financial institution’s network is adhering to your policies and procedures is critical in today’s environment.
 

Capabilities to look for in an outsourced solution include:

  • Network and Workstation Monitoring
    A solution should be able to provide proactive remote monitoring, alerting, preventive maintenance, ticketing, support and reporting for servers, workstations and other devices.
  • Network Management
    A team of certified network engineers who have expertise, banking knowledge and a true understanding of a financial institutions’ technology and technology needs. This expertise ensures issues are resolved in a timely and efficient manner.
  • Workstation/PC Support
    This includes bank applications as well as internal systems and applications. Tasks such as keeping the individual computers up-to-date with anti-virus software are completed and managed by the provider.
  • Compliance-Focused Reports
    Reports that deliver pertinent and useful information to help management ensure the institution is adhering to FFIEC regulatory policies and procedures and to meet the needs of regulators and examiners expectations.
  • Documentation
    Dedicated account managers and experts who understand the financial industry’s regulatory requirements and overall best practices. The Account Manager should deliver compliance-focused Quarterly Control Self-Assessments and Annual Systems Reviews as recommended by the FFIEC as well as provide ongoing strategic planning, technical consulting and participation with your technology committee meetings.
  • Compliance Guidance
    IT regulatory assistance by experts who can be available for IT audit and examination support. Working together pre and post audit/exam, this team prepares banks and credit unions for audits/examinations and can assist the financial institution with any findings.
  • Educational Webinars and Education
    Continuous education and webinars on recent trends and changes in technology and compliance provide financial institutions with a forum where they can learn and interact with subject matter experts and banking peers.

Eliminating the burden of IT network and workstation management, security and regulatory compliance enables your institution to focus on strategy and customer care and have peace of mind in knowing your institution is safe from cybersecurity threats and in compliance with government regulations.



Free White Paper



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions

Learn why five of the most commonly believed “facts” about IT outsourcing within community financial institutions are actually myths.



Dispelling 5 IT Outsourcing Myths within Financial Institutions