A Crisis of Confidence
December 14, 2016
I remember a time, long ago, when my family was confident that newspapers and TV reporters were telling us most of the objective facts most of the time. We also had faith that, though flawed human beings, most representatives in Congress were honestly working hard for (what they saw as) positive change. Such confidence, it seems, has gone the way of pet rocks and parachute pants. The Washington Examiner reports, “Fishwrap: Confidence in Newspapers, TV News Hits Bottom.” The brief write-up gives the highlights of a recent Gallup survey. Writer Paul Bedard tells us:
Gallup found that just 20 percent have confidence in newspapers, a 10-point drop in 10 years. TV news saw an identical 10-point drop, from 31 percent to 21 percent. But it could be worse. Of all the institutions Gallup surveyed on, Congress is at the bottom, with just 9 percent having confidence in America’s elected leaders, a finding that is clearly impacting the direction and tone of the 2016 elections. And Americans aren’t putting their faith in religion. Gallup found that confidence in organized religion dropped below 50 percent, to an all-time low of 41 percent.
Last decade’s financial crisis, the brunt of which many are still feeling, has prompted us to also lose faith in our banks (confidence dropped from 49 percent in 2006 to just 27 percent this year). There is one institution in which Americans still place our confidence—the military. Some 73 percent of are confident of that institution, a level that has been constant over the last decade. Could that have anything to do with the outsized share of tax revenue that segment consistently rakes in? Nah, that can’t be it.
Cynthia Murrell, December 14, 2016
Financial Institutes Finally Realize Big Data Is Important
May 30, 2016
One of the fears of automation is that human workers will be replaced and there will no longer be any more jobs for humanity. Blue-collar jobs are believed to be the first jobs that will be automated, but bankers, financial advisors, and other workers in the financial industry have cause to worry. Algorithms might replace them, because apparently people are getting faster and better responses from automated bank “workers”.
Perhaps one of the reasons why bankers and financial advisors are being replaced is due to their sudden understanding that “Big Data And Predictive Analytics: A Big Deal, Indeed” says ABA Banking Journal. One would think that the financial sector would be the first to embrace big data and analytics in order to keep an upper hand on their competition, earn more money, and maintain their relevancy in an ever-changing world. They, however, have been slow to adapt, slower than retail, search, and insurance.
One of the main reasons the financial district has been holding back is:
“There’s a host of reasons why banks have held back spending on analytics, including privacy concerns and the cost for systems and past merger integrations. Analytics also competes with other areas in tech spending; banks rank digital banking channel development and omnichannel delivery as greater technology priorities, according to Celent.”
After the above quote, the article makes a statement about how customers are moving more to online banking over visiting branches, but it is a very insipid observation. Big data and analytics offer the banks the opportunity to invest in developing better relationships with their customers and even offering more individualized services as a way to one up Silicon Valley competition. Big data also helps financial institutions comply with banking laws and standards to avoid violations.
Banks do need to play catch up, but this is probably a lot of moan and groan for nothing. The financial industry will adapt, especially when they are at risk of losing more money. This will be the same for all industries, adapt or get left behind. The further we move from the twentieth century and generations that are not used to digital environments, the more we will see technology integration.
Whitney Grace, May 30, 2016
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
A Technical Shift in Banking Security
July 23, 2015
Banks may soon transition from asking for your mother’s maiden name to tracking your physical behavior in the name of keeping you (and their assets) safe. IT ProPortal examines “Fraud Prevention: Knowledge-Based Ananlytics in Steep Decline.” Writer Lara Lackie cites a recent report from the Aite Group that indicates a shift from knowledge-based analytics to behavioral analytics for virtual security checkpoints. Apparently, “behavioral analytics” is basically biometrics without the legal implications. Lackie writes:
“Examples of behavioural analytics/biometrics can include the way someone types, holds their device or otherwise interacts with it. When combined, continuous behavioural analysis, and compiled behavioural biometric data, deliver far more intelligence than traditionally available without interrupting the user’s experience….
Julie Conroy, research director, Aite Group, said in the report “When the biometric is paired with strong device authentication, it is even more difficult to defeat. Many biometric solutions also include liveliness checks, to ensure it’s a human being on the other end.’
“NuData Security’s NuDetect online fraud engine, which uses continuous behavioural analysis and compiled behavioral biometric data, is able to predict fraud as early as 15 days before a fraud attempt is made. The early detection offered by NuDetect provides organisations the time to monitor, understand and prevent fraudulent transactions from taking place.”
The Aite report shows over half the banks surveyed plan to move away from traditional security questions over the next year, and six of the 19 institutions plan to enable mobile-banking biometrics by the end of this year. Proponents of the approach laud behavioral analytics as the height of fraud detection. Are Swype patterns and indicators of “liveliness” covered by privacy rights? That seems like a philosophical question to me.
Cynthia Murrell, July 23, 2015
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, publisher of the CyberOSINT monograph
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