CU Removes Online & Mobile Banking Friction While Boosting Security

Using Fiserv's SecureNow helps the credit union make the online and mobile banking process more user friendly for members.

Improving online banking security. (Source: Shutterstock)

Credit unions need more than a smart doorbell to securely identify those at their online door while remaining welcoming to their members simply trying to enter to transact business.

Brookfield, Wis.-based Fiserv, Inc. launched SecureNow: Login Defense an extension of SecureNow from Fiserv to facilitate accurate recognition of suspicious devices, enable credit unions and other financial institutions to boost cyberattack detection rates while also reducing the number of steps needed to access accounts.

The 1.85 billion North Charleston, S.C.-based South Carolina Federal Credit Union, needed help balancing security and engagement. As an existing digital banking client using a variety of Fiserv products including Corillian Online and Mobiliti, South Carolina Federal, which operates 20 South Carolina offices in four major Palmetto State markets, reached out to Fiserv for a solution.

Shaun Davis, director of IT infrastructure and telecommunications at South Carolina Federal, discussed the initiative behind considering SecureNow. “We really felt like it would help us to enhance our security while also trying to remove some layers of difficulty that our membership had with logging into online banking.”

The credit union wanted to challenge members when necessary but throw out the welcome mat the rest of time. SecureNow helps them make the process more user friendly by replacing traditional security mechanisms with real-time login defense and security monitoring. SecureNow does all the strenuous authentication in the background eliminating the user’s login barriers.

“Roughly about three years ago, we did an official launch of SecureNow into the marketplace. It has grown significantly over the years,” Scott Domach, vice president of product strategy, Fiserv. SecureNow replaces traditional security mechanisms with data-driven risk decisioning and monitoring.

In 2017, SecureNow tacked on Login Defense, a centralized, real-time cybersecurity platform that integrates multifactor and device-based authentication with behavioral analytics. The system incorporates device reputation insights from the global consortium of iovation, a TransUnion company, and location data from Neustar, a real-time information services provider including security solutions, to analyze potential risk based on a range of device-related factors such as account access frequency, history and place. Fiserv claimed attacker device real-time recognition rates of 90%.

SecureNow includes multiple layers of behind-the-scenes security so the experience is seamless for the customer. This was a key benefit for South Carolina Federal Credit Union.

The credit union, which has more than 162,000 members, established two primary metrics for success: a lower challenge rate and fewer calls to its contact center regarding online banking.

Davis explained the credit union added SecureNow and its extension Login Defense at the same time. “We piloted in September 2017 and we went live in late September and October 2017. It was just for online banking at first; we added the mobile app in January 2018.”

Read more about South Carolina Federal and SecureNow from Fiserv in the August 7 issue of CU Times.