Credit unions face identity management issues

Madison, Wis. — Credit unions could take better advantage of available technology for identity management, says a study released by the UW E-Business Consortium.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, 27 million Americans have been victims of identity theft in the last five years – 10 million last year. While not all stolen identities may ever be used, just the fact that they could be is a pressing worry for many individuals and institutions.

David Meunier, vice president and chief information security officer for CUNA Mutual, called the statistics alarming and said credit unions need to make sure they can keep track of who may interact with digital resources such as web sites.

According to the report, credit unions realize that the risks of poor identity management outweigh the costs of implementation. But problems remain: manual processes are still being used where automated ones are available, high-level governance bodies are making decisions without the involvement of IT staff, and individual users are not protecting their passwords or other authorization.

• UW E-Business Consortium
• Full report