CU*Answers, a West Michigan-based CUSO advises credit unions on how to prevent fraud attacks that have been designed to gain access to account information through audio response banking.
Upon the wake of the Heartland Card Compromise, and VISA’s fraud alert that mentions attacks on audio response systems, CU*Answers is making a series of recommendations to protect credit unions and their members against increasing fraud attempts:
- Monitor PIN change activity. Review PIN change activity, if a member’s account is listed repeatedly, it could either mean the member is struggling and needs assistance, or someone is trying to guess their pin.
- Review your procedures for resetting PINs. If you do not have good methods for verifying a member’s identity when they call and ask for a PIN to be reset, you are putting your members at risk. Remember that bad guys sometimes have access to a member’s name and other personal information—when in doubt ask the member to visit the branch to verify identity prior to making that PIN change.
- Check your default access settings. Do you automatically grant access to audio response for new members, even if they never elect to use it? Rethinking that philosophy may be advantageous—wait to grant access until the member requests it, and set up a confidential PIN while in your presence.
- Remind your members about audio response. Once some members are used to using online banking, they don’t use audio quite as often. Suggest they use this service periodically, and change their PIN frequently.
For more information on what you can do to protect your credit union and your members, visit CUsecure.org.