Credit unions rely heavily on third-party vendors to ensure that competitive products and services are made available to their members. This is increasingly true in regards to a credit union's relationship with its mobile banking vendor. Primarily region and community centric credit unions often lack the resources to build out the latest mobile financial service technologies for service offerings for their customers.

Partnering with a capable third-party mobile vendor allows credit unions to quickly bring mobile financial services products to market without the cost and labor intensive demands of building their own solutions in house. However, enlisting a third-party vendor to provide mobile services exposes credit unions to significant new risks. This admonition can, and likely should, be extended to all relationship with third-party vendors.

Just ask Target, whose well-publicized breach was facilitated in part by credentials stolen from a third-party HVAC vendor.