CU*Answers, a CUSO known for providing its flagship core processing system, CU*BASE, is forging straight ahead with its ambitious project of Privacy 2010, to protect members’ personal information and to cleanse screens accessed via its Teller, Phone Operator, and Inquiry of non-essential personal information such as Social Security Number, mother’s maiden name, etc.
According to the CUSO, the project has blossomed into a tremendous amount of work as they discovered various methods by which these screens could be accessed. For many screens, they simply chose to remove the private information, and in areas where it was still needed by credit union staff, they created a new Privacy Controls Configuration, which allows users to determine what will be visible and/or masked (such as showing SSN as ***-**-1234) for employees versus non-credit union employees, so that credit unions can provide an even higher level of privacy for their members.
Additionally, while adding these privacy controls, the ability to search for a member’s SSN/TIN was removed from Teller, Phone Operator and Inquiry, so that people can’t start just searching for valid Social Security Numbers.