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Articles by Jim Benlein
It’s Not Too Many Meetings, It’s a Preparation Thing
4 minutes Preparation, not meeting overload, is the key to effective team performance. How often have you said, “I’m in too many meetings,” or thought, “This meeting could have been an email”? What causes people to feel like this? Of course, a variety of reasons get all the attention. This post will not regurgitate those too often–blamed dynamics. Instead, we’ll point to a few difficult-to-swallow yet remediable dynamics.
Tech Time: Being negative for positive security
“Guilty until proven innocent.” Not a phrase one usually thinks of when discussing credit union cybersecurity practices, but those four words offer a simple introduction to the philosophy behind zero-trust architecture for information and technology security. For our starting point, let’s look at the NIST definition of zero trust: Breaking down the above, let’s look at several aspects of what zero trust is and is not for the credit union. continue reading »
Tech Time: Being Negative for Positive Security
4 minutes An introduction to zero-trust security architecture, its basic principles and what it means for credit unions “Guilty until proven innocent.” Not a phrase one usually thinks of when discussing credit union cybersecurity practices, but those four words offer a simple introduction to the philosophy behind zero-trust architecture for information and technology security.
Developing Empathy Skills to Assist Members
5 minutes Coach your lending staff to take these key steps. While empathy is the cornerstone of the credit union mantra, “people helping people,” I would argue it has never been more necessary than today. Regardless of how you feel about COVID-19, vaccines, masks or the politicizing of a public health crisis, the reality is that either you or someone close to you has been directly affected.
An Introduction to the Dark Web
3 minutes Hidden and anonymous online communities provide a marketplace for sensitive data and cyber services. For centuries, there have been physical locations where illegal goods and services are offered for sale. Consider the speakeasies of the 1920s, where a walk down a dark alley, a special knock and a whispered “Swordfish” were the requisites for entry.
Tech Time: Your data breach - not if, but when
“Well, this day-in-the-life of a credit union VP is going pretty well,” is your thought as you review material for the upcoming board meeting. With the CU’s president in the middle of a two-week Caribbean cruise, it will be your turn to go over things at the meeting. And things are going well. The rollout of the updated mobile banking platform has been moving right along. Loan growth continues upward. And… The ringing of your phone interrupts your train of thought, “Pat Jones, Akmye Credit Union.
Tech Time: Maintaining a business continuity testing strategy
“Yes, annually.” Were I to ask executives at your credit union if you perform a regular disaster test, I suspect that would be the answer. The question of how this testing fits into the credit union’s business resumption testing strategy is what I hope to answer with this article.
Tech Time: Building security into your RFPs - CUInsight
“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” – Ben Franklin “Moving forward with new systems.” “Replacing legacy programs with newer more capable programs.” Ask credit union management what’s on their plate for the upcoming year, and quite a few will mention those items. What about investing the time (and patience) to draft effective requests for proposals?
Tech Time: Cyberthreat intelligence and your credit union - CUInsight
Credit union leaders understand that the better they know members and their behavior, the better the credit union can provide products and services that meet members’ needs. If CUs understand members well enough, they can even anticipate future needs. Within the realm of cybersecurity, this same wisdom holds. The better we understand the tactics, techniques and procedures used by the bad guys, the better we can proactively defend against them.
Tech Time: A principled IT strategy - CUInsight
“…This above all, to thine own self be true…” W. Shakespeare Within many credit unions, the building and development of an IT strategy can be a challenge. How will changing systems, technologies, compliance requirements, security needs, known risks, unknown risks, personnel, and all the rest of the bits and pieces be governed and managed? How do we fit everything together? How do we know we’re on the right track?
Active Shooter Response Planning
4 minutes As events last year in Paris, San Bernardino, and elsewhere have shown us, we can no longer bind ourselves to the idea, “It can’t happen here.” Nothing in our nature as not-for-profit financial cooperatives makes us immune to acts of terrorism or active shooter incidents. We must examine the risks, create response plans, and ensure staff members are trained and prepared to carry out these plans.
Keeping the Right Focus
8 minutes 2015 CUES Distinguished Director describes best practices in governance at DCU. Focus on the member, first and foremost. That has been Frank Branca’s guiding principle throughout his 14-year tenure on the board of directors for Digital Federal Credit Union, based in Marlborough, Mass. “Certainly the board and the management team do everything we possibly can to help our half-million members,” says Branca, a CUES member.
Security, Inside and Out
While cybersecurity concerns, controls and programs may be top of mind within credit unions and during many board discussions, it is important that physical security items for credit union facilities not be overlooked. Protecting employees, members and assets, while under our roofs, is something we need to regularly review and update. In this article, we’ll examine a number of best practices credit unions can use for facility physical protection.
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