AUSTIN, Texas – Under the umbrella of the Association of Corporate Credit Unions, the nation's 29 corporate credit unions are actively leading the charge to document industry best practices in the realm of information technology. Speaking to corporate and natural person credit unions at the Credit Union IT Risk Management Summit Jan. 29-31, Kurt Lykins, vice president and chief technology officer of Corporate One Federal Credit Union in Columbus, Ohio, outlined progress being made in five IT initiatives. Lykins serves on the ACCU steering committee that directs the initiatives. The corporate network is collaborating to put together three "frameworks" for the industry on the following topics: business continuity management, information security risk assessment, and vendor management. The first two have recently been completed and distributed to corporate credit unions; the third is in draft form and expected to be finished in six to eight weeks. While to date corporate credit unions have not discussed distributing the reports to their members, passing them on is a logical next step, according to Lykins. "The documentation is being designed to benefit corporate credit unions, but should prove beneficial to our members, as well. We'll also provide copies to CUISPA (Credit Union Information Security Professionals Association – the sponsor of the Credit Union IT Risk Management Summit)." To better understand the Federal Reserve Bank's giant move from DOS-based to web-based technology, ACCU is also funding a third party risk review of the Fedweb/Fedline Advantage application. Documentation on the work performed in the study will provide baseline knowledge of the application, Lykins said. The resulting report, a "Best Practices Reference Guide," will identify risks, benefits, and controls, examining connectivity issues, operating system considerations and network applications. ACCU anticipates that corporate credit unions will receive the completed study in eight to 10 weeks and subsequently distribute it to member credit unions using Fedweb/Fedline Advantage. The newest ACCU initiative, a white paper on Internet banking and strong authentication, is just now in the request-for-proposal stage. The report, according to Lykins, is intended to be an information push on the relative benefits, costs, and complexities of doing multi-factor authentication with web banking. "This project is being done specifically with natural person credit unions in mind. There are no ulterior motives; it does not provide vendor recommendations. The paper will deal with broad categories to provide a working knowledge of issues encompassed in multi-factor authentication," he said. While the 29 corporate credit unions may compete aggressively on a daily basis, they have united on these projects to ensure the safety of their collective memberships and the continuance of the credit union brand, Lykins said. "These issues are important. We know the initiatives have traction and will be completed." -

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