Rebeca Romero Rainey: Combatting Cyber Threats

Where I'll Be

I’ll be on the road doing bank visits, meeting with our leadership bankers and spending some time with our affiliated state association partners—with risk mitigation a sure topic at each event.

As community bankers, we have all heard or experienced firsthand that tragic story of a customer who fell victim to a fraudster. They were looking for a quick win or a friend and were deceived by a too-good-to-be-true scenario that was just that. 

But for every story like this, we have several success stories where we stopped fraud in its tracks. Consider the teller who noticed unusual customer behavior and talked to them and their family. Or the IT team member who championed risk mitigation software that stopped an attack. This is where we excel: We pay attention to the details. It’s another reason why our agile, relationship-based business model works. 

In today’s landscape, it’s more important than ever to have that connection to our customers. Take  the rise in check fraud. Basic fraud like check washing is new again, enabled partly by more advanced technology that makes it hard to catch. That’s where education is critical. We need to continue our training, no matter how long we’ve been in this business, to identify threats and prepare ourselves, our staff and our customers for what’s possible and what’s potentially next. 

Think about the times you have been shocked by a fraud attempt at your bank or heard a story of something that happened at another bank. It’s not conceptual in that moment; it becomes clear that these attacks are happening all the time, all around us. 

As you read this month’s issue and explore ideas for bolstering your bank’s risk mitigation efforts, I encourage you to reach out to your peers via ICBA Community. Whether it’s to ask about a particular technology, hear what others are seeing as far as fraud, or connect on trainings (see sidebar), your community banking colleagues are your best resource in this fight against fraud. 

While fraud will continue, we are our own best defense. Uniting our efforts as community bankers will make the greatest impact yet.