Tag: SafeSysMail

21 Sep 2021
Multi-Factor Authentication Offers Secure, Reliable Access Control

Multi-Factor Authentication Offers Secure, Reliable Access Control

Multi-Factor Authentication Offers Secure, Reliable Access Control

In our increasingly digital world, financial institutions must go beyond requiring only usernames and passwords for the sign-in process. They need to employ a combination of factors to validate the individuals using their resources, whether they’re customers accessing electronic products and services or employees accessing systems, applications, and data. Institutions can choose various levels of authentication to verify people’s identity before giving them access to sensitive information, accounts, and other assets. However, multi-factor authentication (MFA) offers a secure and reliable approach for reducing the potential for unauthorized access.

One of the key values of MFA lies in its use of multiple factors for the validation process. MFA adds a layer of protection by requiring users to present a variety of elements to prove who they are. With this method, users must supply valid identification data such as a username followed by at least two types of credentials, such as:

  • Something the person knows: This represents “secret” information that is known or shared by both the user and the authenticating entity. Passwords and personal identification numbers (PINs) are the most commonly used shared secrets, but newer methods of identification are gaining popularity. Users may be required to answer questions that only they should know, like the amount of their monthly mortgage payment. Another example is they might have to identify their pre-selected image (chosen when they opened their account) from a group of pictures.
  • Something the person has: This is often a security token or a physical device, such as an I.D. card or smartphone, that people must have in their possession. Password-generating tokens can significantly enhance security because they display a random, one-time password or passcode that the recipient must promptly provide to complete the authentication process. Having unpredictable, one-time passwords makes it more challenging for hackers to use keyboard logging to steal credentials.
  • Something the person is: This more complex approach to authentication uses a physical characteristic (biometrics) such as face, fingerprint, or voice recognition to verify people’s identity.

Since MFA incorporates factors based on knowledge, possession, and/or biometrics, it makes it more difficult for cybercriminals to compromise people’s identity. Thus, MFA is an ideal verification method to use when more sensitive or critical assets are at stake. MFA is so reliable that the Federal Financial Institution Examination Council (FFIEC) recommends applying it in more high-risk situations. “Management should use multi-factor authentication over encrypted network connections for administrators accessing and managing network devices,” states the FFIEC IT Handbook’s Architecture, Infrastructure, and Operations booklet.

MFA gives financial institutions a valuable security control for their internal and cloud resources. Take our quiz to see how much you know about multi-factor authentication.

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.

26 Sep 2019
2019 Threat Outlook

2019 Threat Outlook – Business Email Compromise Continues to Threaten Banks and Credit Unions

2019 Threat Outlook

Today, cybersecurity threats are ubiquitous. Cyber attackers are infiltrating email systems, computer networks and anywhere else they can find weaknesses to exploit. They’re using a variety of schemes to steal data, money and other assets—and tarnish corporate reputations.

Financial institutions are prime targets for cyber criminals, which is why cybersecurity must be a top priority. In 2018 alone, more than 500 security incidents affected financial and insurance organizations—with almost 25 percent having confirmed data disclosure, according to the Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report.

In addition, the costs to remedy the damage from cybercrime is higher than ever, and still growing. Now, the average cost of cybercrime for an organization is $13.0 million, up from $1.4 million in 2017, according to Accenture’s 2019 Cost of Cybercrime Study.

The Rise of Business Email Compromise

New call-to-actionTop IT Areas Where CEOs Should Focus to Enhance Cybersecurity Posture  Get a Copy

Not only are cyber threats rampant, but they’re becoming more devious and complex. For example, business email compromise (BEC) is one of the top threat vectors for 2019. BEC is a sophisticated type of phishing scam that’s perpetrated through five main scenarios, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). Often, BEC scammers pretend to be a foreign supplier and attempt to trick employees into wiring funds for outstanding invoices into their bank account. In another common BEC scam, attackers impersonate a high-level executive, such as a CIO, CEO, or CFO, to try to deceive employees into wiring money.

However, BEC doesn’t always entail requesting wire transfers. More recently, BEC has involved data theft—the receipt of fraudulent emails asking for either wage or tax statement forms or a company list of personally identifiable information (PII). Regardless of the scenario, the business executive’s email is compromised, either by hacking (normally through a personal email account) or spoofing (altering the sender’s information to mimic a legitimate email request).

Like other cybercrimes, BEC continues to evolve and is rapidly expanding. The scam has been reported by victims in all 50 states and in 100 countries, according to IC3. Many BEC complaints have involved businesses and associated personnel using open source email accounts; the phrases “code to admin expenses” or “urgent wire transfer;” requested dollar amounts that are similar to normal business transaction amounts; and IP addresses that frequently trace back to free domain registrars.

Strengthen Cybersecurity Processes

Financial institutions and other organizations can protect themselves from BEC by implementing robust internal prevention techniques at all levels, particularly with front-line employees who are more likely to receive initial phishing emails. Some institutions are reducing BEC-related fraud by simply holding customer requests for international wire transfers for an additional time period to verify the legitimacy of the request. Other IC3-recommended strategies for strengthening bank cybersecurity against BEC include:

  • Avoid free web-based e-mail accounts;
  • Be careful about what is posted to social media and company websites (especially job duties/descriptions, hierarchal information, and out of office details);
  • Be suspicious of requests for secrecy or pressure to take action quickly;
  • Consider using additional IT and bank cybersecurity procedures, including a two-step verification process;
  • Beware of sudden changes in business practices, such as being asked to contact a business associate through a personal email instead of company email address; and
  • Provide security awareness training to all employees.

Regardless of the threat outlook for BEC and other cyber-attacks, financial institutions must have effective tactics for safeguarding their customer information, infrastructure and operations. This necessitates meeting regulatory and industry compliance standards for collecting, protecting and using private financial data.

To gain more insight into this area, as well as other key topics for CEOs to be aware of, download our white paper, Top IT Areas Where CEOs of Financial Institutions Should Focus: Important Questions and Answers.

 
 
27 Jun 2019
Migrating Email to the Cloud

Migrating Email to the Cloud – How Financial Institutions Can Leverage Microsoft O365 for Efficient Business Email

Migrating Email to the Cloud

Many financial institutions are finding the Cloud to be very appealing for their business objectives. Migrating server workloads and applications to the cloud provides many benefits for banks and credit unions alike, but it can also seem overwhelming to some who are introducing cloud services to their organizations for the first time. Today, many banks and credit unions are taking the first step of moving or looking to move their email hosting services to the cloud. Traditionally, email services have been hosted on-premises, but now financial institutions can take advantage of hosted email solutions to simplify email management and make processes more efficient for the entire organization.

Cloud hosted solutions, such as Microsoft O365, can dramatically simplify business email management by eliminating the need for manual intervention and management which enables the IT staff to focus on more revenue-generating tasks. In addition, the experience for end-users is essentially the same, creating a seamless transition for the institution.

In addition to increased efficiencies, there are other key advantages of moving email to the cloud such as:

  • A secure email environment – the cloud is a secure environment for data storage.
  • Reduced costs – there is no need to purchase and maintain costly servers.
  • Reduced manual intervention – with cloud solutions, bank staff no longer needs to manage the email network including email migrations, upgrades, backups, and general maintenance.
  • High reliability and availability – cloud-based solutions have redundant systems to ensure email services are consistent and run properly every day.
  • Built-in backups and archiving – cloud-based solutions automatically perform backups and archive tasks. The backups are also stored off-site, which is an important aspect of any disaster recovery plan.
  • Ability to access email from anywherecloud-based email solutions can always be accessed, from any location, using any device, improving the productivity of employees.

Not all cloud-based email solutions are created equal

Financial institutions require an industry-specific email solution that adheres to strict cybersecurity regulations to remain in compliance with regulatory guidance and expectations.

In addition, community banks and credit unions place increased importance on the availability, uptime and security of their email solutions. Some aspects of a cloud-based email solution that banks and credit unions should consider include:

  • Ability to meet strict cybersecurity regulations
  • Can create customized reports for regulators (e.g., compliance, user, and encryption)
  • Reliable up-time and redundancy
  • Unique layers of security, SPAM filtering, antivirus, and on-demand encryption
  • Multifactor authentication
18 Apr 2019
Email Account Takeover: How Multifactor Authentication Can Prevent It

Email Account Takeover How: Multifactor Authentication Can Prevent It

Email Account Takeover: How Multifactor Authentication Can Prevent It

Email Account Takeover is one of the most profitable cybersecurity threats for criminals and as a result, has become increasingly common. In fact, according to Agari, email account takeover has seen a 126 percent increase month-to-month since the beginning of 2018. Agari also indicates that 44 percent of businesses reported being victims of targeted email attacks. Regardless of the type of email system, whether it is hosted in-house or in the most robust cloud solution available, the level of vulnerability and ease in which a user can fall victim to this threat tend to remain consistent.

As one might suspect, passwords are often the weakest link in email security. They are usually obtained through traditional means such as social engineering, malware, buying passwords off the deep web, or users simply reusing the same passwords for different sites or applications. Once passwords are compromised, hackers then use that opportunity to watch and monitor email usage to determine and ultimately target the best ways to profit from this access. This happens by emailing malware from a known user account within a legitimate contact list; a payment request for seemingly business-related items or services; or a request for another user’s passwords. Unfortunately, criminals are displaying endless levels of creativity in executing their fraudulent activity.

The Impact of Email Account Takeover

Email account takeover attacks are particularly dangerous (and very effective) because they often originate through emails from trusted senders. Because there is a pre-existing trust relationship with the sender, the attack is then more likely to succeed. In addition, since the attack originates from a legitimate account, it often goes undetected by traditional security controls.

When email account takeover attempts are successful, not only are the user and the organization directly impacted, but the losses and hardships extend far beyond those tied to that individual account. Account takeover puts a significant strain on customer and member relationships and can result in long-term damage to a financial institution’s brand and reputation.

Imagine an email with malware imbedded was sent to all of your customers or business partners. This has the potential to infect hundreds of customers’ machines. Now imagine $10,000 being wired to a rogue account based off of an email that included the correct language and information; or all of your employees receiving emails from your network administrator requesting they confirm their passwords. These are not hypothetical situations, but rather real-life examples that have all happened multiple times, regardless of industry or location.

How to Mitigate Email Account Takeover

Many banks and credit unions have realized that simply having the correct username and password is no longer enough to ensure a truly secure email account. Successful email account takeover attacks reveal a lack of adequate protection which, when recognized, can be corrected. Some proven methods to effectively prevent an attack include the following.

Employee Training

Download the PDFThe 2019 IT Outlook for Community Banking Get a Copy

Increasingly, banks and credit unions are recognizing employee training as an important security mechanism and prevention protocol. Employees who are not adequately trained on how to properly use email, including: email attachment protocols; how to deal with unknown senders; and how to spot suspicious emails; can quickly become a top vulnerability and security threat for their institutions. Training for all employees—from tellers and loan officers up to the President and CEO—is critical.

Password Usage

Remembering all of the passwords required to secure daily activities has become a tall order, one which often results in employees using the same (or a limited set) of passwords for all accounts. This is not a good idea as once your password is compromised in one place, you are then immediately vulnerable in multiple places. Whenever possible, one should randomly generate a unique password for each program or site that they use.

Outside Testing

Community banks and credit unions can leverage an outside security company to conduct security training and checks to verify exactly how their employees interact with suspicious emails. This allows network administrators to evaluate different levels of risk based on whether an employee a) ignored the email, b) opened the email, or c) clicked the link and provided information. After conducting this test, the administrator can then use that opportunity to educate employees on what happened during the test, explain how the system was compromised, and provide applicable advice on how to recognize these types of attacks in the future.

Stop Email Account Takeover Attacks with Multifactor Authentication

A proven way to protect your bank’s email system is to implement multifactor authentication, which requires more than one method of authentication to verify a user’s identity for a login or other transaction. This security option is designed to make it more difficult for cybercriminals to access bank accounts and other sensitive information.

While there are different ways to implement multifactor authentication, the three basic elements that can be used in this process include: Something the user knows, like a password or PIN; Something the user possesses, like a smart card, token or mobile phone; and Something the user is (i.e., biometrics), such as a fingerprint or retina scan.

Many of our customers rely on Safe Systems SafeSysMail O365 hosted email solution, which provides them the option to turn on dual-factor authentication to increase the layers of security. When employees login to their email account, they must first type in their username and password. Then, as a second factor, they use a mobile authentication app, which will generate a code or PIN to enter on the screen and only then are they given access to the account. If you or your employees don’t have a smart phone, that’s ok. Microsoft provides multiple ways to implement their multifactor solution. Implementing multifactor authentication is a powerful step toward preventing hackers from gaining access to accounts — even if a password or security answer is stolen.

For such a seemingly simple act, account takeover presents significant reputation risk and financial risk to your institution, but by ensuring that your bank or credit union adopt proven strategies to counter it – and remain diligent in performing them – it is a threat that can be prevented.

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.

11 Jul 2016

The Real Cost of Hosting Your Bank’s Email Server and Why Outsourcing Is More Cost Efficient

Cost and efficiency are the two aspects of a product or process that any community financial institution must balance as it strives to find middle ground that satisfies stakeholder needs without breaking the budget. Email is no exception to this rule. Email has long been seen as a free communication tool. However, this free communication tool can easily end up costing $50,000 over a 5 year period. When email started it was a “nice to have,” but it is now a key part of communication and business processes. In fact, email has morphed into such a “must have” that email system sluggishness, instability, or downtime is not an option for most institutions.

What makes email so expensive?

Over a five year period, financial institutions that host email internally have costs related to:

  • Server-Hardware
  • Licensing
    • Client access licensing
    • Server OS license
    • Microsoft Exchange license
  • Backup and storage costs
  • Email filtering cost
  • Securing messaging (encryption) cost
  • Support cost – External or internal expertise
  • Monitoring/alerting cost
  • Redundancy/uptime/Recovery costs
  • Exchange Migration/upgrade costs
  • Costs for optional features such as archival and other add-ons

So, the cost of hosting an email server within your bank can add up quickly and be quite expensive. In addition to the high cost, many banks and credit unions prefer or even require a solution that is tailored for the specific needs of the financial services industry. For a community bank or credit union, the highest levels of security and confidentiality are necessary to meet strict regulatory requirements, making an off-the-shelf email platform unsuitable without modifications.

Outsourcing Email Hosting

To combat some of the expenses of hosting email servers internally, many financial institutions have turned to outsourcing their email needs. At Safe Systems, we have worked with financial institutions as they completed a simple cost comparison of hosting their email server internally versus hosting it with an outsourced provider, and most chose to outsource. In fact, we had almost 100 financial institutions move their email to our system to our email service solution that is now part of the Microsoft Exchange Online solution in the first year after it was released. Those that chose to keep email in-house often overlooked an increasingly critical cost – the cost of ensuring high availability of the email system. Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen institutions re-evaluate putting their email in the cloud in order to address this issue of availability.

The cost of using an outsourced email solution is typically much more straightforward than hosting internally. Here are some typical costs associated with moving to a hosted email solution:

  • Email, encryption, filtering – Price/User/Month
  • Add-ons – Price/User/Month
    • Archival

For this flat cost per user, customers receive:

  • High availability of email services
  • Minimal to no additional cost for maintenance/upgrades
  • Backups to geographically distributed locations
  • Email expertise that is hard to match on a smaller scale implementation
    • Ability to respond to phishing/social engineering attacks quickly
    • Responses to issues or downtime quickly

Customized Email Platform for Financial Institutions

To meet the demands of the financial services industry, Safe Systems has customized our email services offering, specifically for financial institutions by adding on layers for compliance and security. Our platform runs on Microsoft’s Exchange Online platform which is the biggest, most robust platform on the market today. Safe Systems eliminates the burden of running Microsoft Exchange internally, while maximizing productivity. With our suite of email solutions, a previous winner of the BankNews Innovative Solutions Award for best Consulting/Outsourcing/Training solution, financial institutions can eliminate the operational headaches and minimize the costs associated with the implementation, management, maintenance, and recoverability of your email system. This is accomplished while also greatly enhancing availability, maximizing uptime, and adding redundancy only available at scale.

Email is not free. In fact, it is very expensive. As a vital part of your institution, your email solution needs to function smoothly and consistently in order to support your business functions. In the end, it should provide a stable, scalable, robust, and redundant solution, but meeting all of these requirements cannot be easily accomplished with an internal solution at a reasonable cost. Working with Safe Systems gives you access to an email solution that, while powered by Microsoft’s cloud email solution, is designed exclusively for financial institutions. SafeSysMail includes extra layers of protection including products highly rated by Gartner and used by the government for SPAM and malware filtering, and on demand encryption. Working with one of the largest providers of hosted services designed exclusively for financial institutions and their specific needs offers the peace of mind and confidence that your bank’s email will be compliant, protected, and available – all at a lower cost than hosting internally.




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