Simplify, Automate and Modernize

Three words to consider for security success in the banking segment

• By Matt Tengwall
• Apr 01, 2019

The banking market continues to evolve due to the growing use of mobile devices, as more branch operations aim to enhance convenience and service for the customer. These advancements also create greater opportunities for fraud and loss. Increasingly sophisticated fraud techniques require organizations to pursue new approaches to preventing and detecting such activities.

One such leading financial organization has taken a proactive approach to fraud reduction and security, and the results of their efforts speak for themselves. I was grateful to recently spend some time with the bank’s security and safety teams, and am honored to help share their story.

A Leader in Banking

VyStar Credit Union was founded in 1952 as Jax Navy Federal Credit Union to serve civil service, military employees and their families at Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Fla. Today, VyStar has grown to become one of the largest credit unions in the nation, serving more than 500,000 members nationwide with 118 remote ATMs and 51 branches.

Financial institutions face a number of challenges on a day-to-day basis, requiring innovative technology that boosts efficiencies, reduces fraud, and enhances service for customers. VyStar has relied on advanced video surveillance for years but wanted to enhance its capabilities. Its previous solution was also no longer able to support the organization’s video retention requirements.

“We wanted to upgrade to a solution that would support a hybrid mix of both analog and digital video cameras,” said Kevin Owens, vice president of security and safety at VyStar Credit Union. “We also knew that we wanted a secure platform to limit cybersecurity risks, enhance video capture with analytics, and ease the complexity of ongoing maintenance.”

VyStar selected Verint EdgeVR and Op- Center to manage video surveillance and data capture across its branches. EdgeVR is an enterprise-class, IP-based network video recorder designed for large-scale, geographically distributed operations. With hybrid IP/ analog capabilities, it empowered VyStar to migrate from analog to IP for greater longterm value and lower integration costs. It also provided high-quality imagery, optimized bandwidth utilization, a secure embedded operating system, and industry-leading system interfaces to deliver increased ROI.

Op-Center allows Vystar and its team to monitor, manage and troubleshoot Verint NVRs from a central location. By adding Op-Center, VyStar Credit Union realized centralized capabilities and reduced the cost and complexity of video system management. From a central console, users can configure NVRs, change device properties and passwords, download firmware, create audit reports, and manage user rights. The solution also enables VyStar to rapidly identify potential malfunctions and camera obstructions with remote diagnostics for large NVR deployments. Now, operators can monitor the health of the entire surveillance network, allowing them to prevent video loss and maximize uptime.

“It is critical for us to leverage intelligent security tools that allow us to achieve the video coverage necessary to reduce fraud,” Owens said. “Combatting fraud is our most significant directive. With Verint, we are able to capture video and tie it to our transaction system to better identify anomalies. Verint is also valuable from a safety perspective. It helps us identify slip-and-fall events and critical security incidents and we are able to ensure long-term capture of that video to be used in later investigations if necessary.”

Video analytic capabilities have been a valuable addition to VyStar’s fraud mitigation toolbox. The bank can now search through footage more easily and locate persons of interest at various locations. Analytics also enable operators to address any red flags or suspicious activity in a much more rapid fashion.

Additionally, Owens noted that the ability to combine information from systems has provided VyStar with an 85-percent time savings over manual methods. “This is exceptional,” he said, “because we all know time is money.”

Looking to the Future

VyStar is a great example of a bank that is leveraging processes and technology to simplify, automate and modernize their operations. As we can see through their efforts, technology is a great force multiplier that helps secure a branch footprint, alleviates risk, ensures operational compliance, and improves fraud investigations.

As we continue to past the first quarter of 2019, we expect to see Big Data analysis, video analytics, and IoT-powered devices allow banks to investigate threats in an even more intelligent manner and generate actionable intelligence from collected data points to achieve their strategic intelligence and business objectives. Organizations like VyStar will be well-positioned to benefit from these new trends.

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Security Today.