I am encouraged that projects have begun to track their technical debt. As Kevin Casey writes, “The name is more self-explanatory than most tech terms.” And Product Plan says an article in the Information and Software Technology Journal defines technical debt in very specific terms: “Technical debt describes the consequences of software development actions that intentionally or […]
Royal Bank of Canada confirmed this morning that it is aware of an issue that is preventing transactions from appearing in online and mobile banking. Hi, we are aware that there is a current issue with the display of transactions in online and mobile banking. We are working at resolving this as soon as possible. […]
Canada’s financial regulator is urging the country’s biggest banks and insurance companies to perform a new controlled threat assessment of their cyber resilience every three years with independent penetration testers. The recommendation for the assessment, called Intelligence-Led Cyber Resilience Testing (I-CRT), was announced today in new guidance from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial […]
Following an announcement that Intel Corp.’s executive team will slash their salaries by up to 25 per cent and cut employees’ pay by five per cent as a result of a dire economic slump, the dismal news continued yesterday, with S&P Global Ratings lowering the company’s rating to A from A+. A statement from the […]
In 2023, worldwide government spending will increase by 6.8 per cent over 2022, with a total budget of US$588.9 billion, Gartner Inc. predicts, as governments look to develop a cohesive total experience framework (TX) strategy in order improve delivery of services as well as citizen experience and engagement. Constituents are demanding experiences similar to online […]
Elon Musk has offered to purchase Twitter at the originally offered share price of US$54.20 if Twitter drops court actions, according to a filing by Musk to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Oct. 3. Musk had offered to purchase Twitter for US$44 billion in April 2022, but then tried to back out of the […]
RBC has improved its RBC Mobile App with a feature that combines client card and biometrics authentication with PIN verification. Using this new security feature, Android users with the near-field communications (NFC) function enabled on their mobile device can tap their client card on the phone and input the PIN number to authenticate. On Apple […]
Elavon’s Interac payment service experienced an outage in Canada on April 29, taking down debit functions on Canada’s major payment terminals, including Godaddy Poynt, and causing businesses to turn away customers who pay with debit cards. At the time of writing, the outage has been ongoing for approximately six hours. Elavon first posted the outage […]
Ottawa has to give Canadian banks more pointed direction to improve their ability to withstand cyber attacks, says the country’s former national security advisor. “Government legislatively has to impose obligations on financial institutions, much in the same way they have done with money laundering,” Richard Fadden told parliament’s Public Safety committee on Wednesday. For example, […]
Canada and other G7 nations have agreed on a set of guidelines for governments to improve cyber security in the financial sector, one of the critical pieces of infrastructure in any country. Release of the guidelines comes after several breaches of the international SWIFT financial messaging system, including the US$81 million theft via the Bangladesh central […]
In March of this year 15 Canadian financial institutions were targeted by new a malware attack aimed at stealing passwords. This followed this discovery in January aimed at the Bank of Montreal (BMO), Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and National bank of Canada and a number of other institutions around the world that included luring […]
BlackBerry Ltd. continues to expand the way the can leverage its secure global network . The company said Thursday it has struck a three year agreement with mobile payments provider EnStream LP to provide a secure platform for smart phone transactions between banks and their customers. EnStream is a joint venture owned by Bell Mobility, Rogers Communications and […]
National Bank Correspondent Network (NBCN) Inc., a subsidiary of Montreal-based National Bank Financial Inc., made a deal with Toronto-based PriceMetrix Inc. to offer its CommissionCheck SaaS product as an added feature to its subscription service. David Burnes, executive vice-president of NBCN, said it’s “the largest provider of outsourcing services for the financial services community.” NBCN […]
Desjardins General Insurance Group has migrated from its mainframes in an effort to speed up online transactions and better attract incoming IT talent. The Montreal-based property and casualty insurer moved away from the aging technology earlier this year and launched Hewlett-Packard Co.’s line of ProLiant and HP Integrity servers. The upgrade, which comes as part […]
he rumored combination of two pieces of advanced online banking malware appears to be fully underway after several months of speculation. What appears to be a beta version of a piece of malware that has bits of both Zeus and SpyEye is now in circulation, albeit among just a few people, said Aviv Raff, CTO […]
During a recession, it’s all about business process efficiency (cutting costs, while maintaining or improving quality of services). If successful at reducing process and cost while maintaining or improving quality, higher profit margins are realized once the recovery kicks in. Streamline. Leaner and meaner tomorrow. Period. That’s my opinion. John TummoloCTO/Enterprise Application Developer I’ll […]
In its study of 43 companies that suffered a data breach last year, the Ponemon Institute found the total cost of coping with the consequences rose to US$6.6 million per breach, up from $6.3 million in 2007 and $4.7 million in 2006. The cost per compromised record in 2008 rose 2.5 per cent over the […]
LUSAKA, ZAMBIA – A software company co-founder and financier is set to tackle the various barriers to trade and finance for goods and services in Africa with a software application called MX, designed to allow for mobile and Internet payments. Launching later this year, the software was written on a Microsoft platform and will allow […]
Telus Corp.’s decision to acquire Emergis Inc. reflects a recognition that the Canadian health care sector is the “single biggest industry opportunity” awaiting the Burnaby, B.C.-based telecommunications provider, according to its president and CEO, Darren Entwistle. Telus announced Thursday it is offering to pay $763 million to buy the Longueuil, Qu
Financial sector CIOs take note – institutions such as banks and credit unions face serious repercussions should they suffer a data security breach, according to the 2005 EDS Financial Services Privacy and Customer Relationship Management Survey. The survey indicates that 21 per cent of consumers would close all accounts and move their business to another […]
When it comes to outsourcing, Mo Hirani knows his stuff. As Executive Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of Penson Financial Services Canada Inc., he has been immersed in IT outsourcing to the securities industry for the past three years. Hirani is also a member of a three-person committee that drives technology for the firm as […]
London-based Barclays Bank PLC said it has signed up for an antifraud service from New York-based Cyota Inc., as part of an effort to weather the phishing frauds that seem to be hammering the Web these days. Cyota’s FraudAction service, which Barclays piloted for three months earlier this year, is designed to help the bank […]
A group of tech-minded U.S. financial services firms says it’s time for software vendors to own up to their responsibilities, and start building applications that aren’t so vulnerable to viruses, and are easier to maintain. Canadian companies seem to be on board with the strategy, although one industry group hasn’t yet formulated a plan to […]
Right on cue Citibank Australia is the first of the big financial services firms to relocate its call centre operations to Manila in the Philippines. Citibank’s current Brisbane-based call centre, established in 1999, employs 120 staff and will be relocated to Manila over the next five months. The bank said the transfer followed a “rigorous […]
