If anyone would know what makes digital documents secure on theWeb, it would be agents of the Central Intelligence Agency.

That may be why Northwest Federal Credit Union – founded 65 years ago to serveCIA employees – is seeing its members take interest in a newWeb-based deposit box solution called My Virtual StrongBox.

Developed by Herndon, Va.-based DigitalMailer Inc., the tool stores and provides backup ofelectronic copies of important documents, including wills,insurance policies, real estate deeds, investment statements,photos, and passports. The electronic communication serviceprovider that serves 180 credit unions said it also offerstime-tested reliability of security protection standards notoffered by other online back-up solutions.

“Given the history of this organization and our members, this isthe only product we found that provides lockdown security forelectronic documents,” said Greg Gibson, chief operating officerfor the $2.2 billion Northwest Federal in Herndon, Va. “There are alot of cloud-based solutions that have no real security. Somesolutions are only password protected and other vendors move dataaround to server farms, so you're never sure where your data isbeing stored.”

Northwest was the first credit union to adopt MVS afterDigitalMailer launched it in April. DigitalMailer CEO Ron Daly saidthere are nearly 30 credit unions that are in various stages of thebuying process.

The MVS icon appears as a menu item on Northwest's site behindits multifactor authentication process. The documents areautomatically encrypted after members place them in MVS, which usesAES 256 bit encryption and other industry best practices, accordingto DigitalMailer. The virtual strongbox also stores members'documents on dedicated, redundant storage devices in datacentersbased in Boston and Charlotte, N.C. that are controlled byDigitalMailer, Daly said. The datacenters are SAS 70 Type IIcertified with 24-hour monitoring to assure safety and continuousbackup in case of power outages or natural disasters. 

Additionally, MVS enables members to customize the organizationof their legal and financial documents, including photos. It offersanytime Web access. In September, DigitalMailer will launch atablet app that will enable consumers to snap a photo of theirdocuments and place them in MVS. A similar smartphone app isexpected to launch by the end of the year.

Northwest members who get electronic statements are offered MVSfree with 100 megabytes of storage space. Since the solution wasintroduced in June, about 800 members are using it. Approximately68,000 out of 110,000 Northwest members get electronicstatements.

“We're still in the initial phases of making our members awareof it, but the number of adopters is pretty much growing everyday,” Gibson said, adding Northwest also plans to market theservice to small business owners.

As with any new solution, however, it's uncertain whether MVSwill become a popular offering among credit unions and theirmembers. Marc DeCastro, research director for consumer banking atFramingham-Mass.-based IDC, noted in a June blog post that WellsFargo recently dropped its virtual safe deposit box solutionbecause of lack of consumer interest.

For Northwest, MVS was an easy install, Gibson said. The creditunion paid a one-time set up and implementation fee and pays amonthly storage space fee, which increases only as members sign upfor the service. Members pay an extra fee for storage space thatexceeds the free 100 megabytes of space provided by Northwest.While income is expected, Gibson said the primary goal is to keepmembers in an increasingly competitive environment.