The nation’s largest core processor has been accused of multiple security lapses…

An article review.

For smaller banks and credit unions the resources needed to create and maintain their own online banking presence can be daunting. Even after the website is running and customers have a smartphone application they can use, maintaining those platforms and keeping them secure can consume a great deal of time and money. That’s why many organizations turn to a third party–often their core processor–for those services…but sometimes those third parties aren’t up to the task either.

That’s what one credit union is alleging in a lawsuit filed recently against Fiserv, the nation’s largest core processor. An article submitted to us by our friend Wes Pollard details the allegations, which include multiple security issues such as using products that are end-of-life (and therefore no longer receive security updates), failure to enforce HTTPS encryption and disclosing confidential customer information to unauthorized third parties.

Fiserv has had security issues in the past. Last year Brian Krebs of Krebs on Security reported about a broken access control which allowed users to view and edit information about other customers, by simply modifying the digits at the end of a URL. An independent researcher initially found the flaw, but was unable to reach Fiserv to notify them about the issue…until Krebs publicized the flaw on his blog.

Incidents such as this highlight the fact that vendor management, like developing an online banking presence, is something that is never truly complete. To help stay on top of potential issues with your vendors, consider setting up a Google news alert for their names—an incident like the lawsuit mentioned here may not be in compliance documentation you receive from your vendor, but will often make the rounds on security related websites.

Original article by Kevin Townsend, writing for SecurityWeek.com.