Tech Talk: PPP solutions, digital onboarding, fraud prevention, and more!

• A PPP lending solution for banks
• Digital onboarding solution for PPP loans
• SBA exposed applicants' personal data
• Payment processor's PCI fail
• New global financial crime report
• U.K. banks tackle COVID fraud
• Bank buys fraud prevention firm
• U.K. bank launches money transfer app
• Betterment branches into banking
• Spam, Scams & Breaches
• Updates, Patches & Alerts
• and on the lighter side...

A PPP lending solution for banks
Banks are still reeling from the backlog of government relief lending applications they received last week and small business owners were incensed by the sufficient lack of relief funds available through the Small Business Administration's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). With the new interim coronavirus relief bill passed by the House on Thursday that will replenish the PPP with $310 billion ($60 billion of which is set aside for small lenders and community financial institutions), banks and fintechs are gearing up for round two, reports Banking Dive. Two fintech banking software providers have partnered to provide their customers with a complete end-to-end solution that automates and streamlines the PPP loan application process. Yahoo Finance has the details.

Digital onboarding solution for PPP loans
In these unprecedented times and with the majority of physical bank branches closed, financial institutions are faced with the challenge of complying with BSA rules and KYC screening requirements when processing PPP loan applications for small businesses. Regulatory technology provider Fenergo has accelerated the launch of its digital cloud-based Remote Account Opening solution to help businesses and banks streamline and reduce the time to onboard and service new business accounts and rapidly process PPP loan applications, reports ATM Marketplace.

SBA exposed applicants' personal data
Thousands of small businesses who visited the Disaster Loan Assistance section of the SBA's website to apply for economic relief may have had their personal data exposed to other applicants. A flaw in the online application portal allowed users to see another applicant's information by simply hitting the back button. The agency, which has addressed the issue and relaunched the application portal, said there is no evidence of attempted misuse of the leaked data but they have offered the affected businesses a year of free credit monitoring, reports CNBC.

Payment processor's PCI fail
Merchants and their vendors who store payment card data must comply with mandatory PCI (Payment Card Industry) standards requiring the encryption of stored card data and face stiff penalties and fines in the event of a breach when those requirements are not met. A security researcher has discovered a database of more than 2.5 million unencrypted card numbers that were left exposed for three weeks by New York-based card payments processor Paay. With retail stores across the country closed during the COVID crisis and consumers making far more purchases online, there is an increased risk for cybercriminals to use exposed credentials and card data for fraudulent uses. TechCrunch has the details.

New global financial crime report
While technology has enabled the world to conduct business without borders, it has also provided more opportunities for cross-border money laundering and financial crime. Legal research and risk solutions firm LexisNexis has released a global report that takes a detailed look into the factors driving financial crime compliance efforts for leading financial institutions around the world. The True Cost of Financial Crime Compliance Global Report reveals the projected cost of financial crime compliance across the global finance sector amounts to around $180.9 billion. Also notable is that financial institution professionals surveyed report that non-bank payment providers are creating additional compliance challenges and risk for financial firms. CPO has the details and more notable findings from the report.

U.K. banks tackle COVID fraud
Smishing – phishing scams involving a text message – is becoming as widespread as the global pandemic with criminals exploiting the COVID crisis to pilfer login credentials from unwitting victims who are anxious to get relief payments or other COVID-related information. In an effort to prevent ID spoofing by criminals, banks in the U.K. have joined forces with the mobile industry and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to identify and block fraudulent SMS texts and safeguard messages from legitimate businesses and organizations. TechRadar has the details.

Bank buys fraud prevention firm
With today's sophisticated threats evolving at a fast pace, it's becoming increasingly more challenging for financial institutions to protect their networks and their customers. To strengthen its fraud prevention efforts, MVB Financial, the holding company for MVB Bank, has acquired fraud prevention firm Paladin Group. Paladin, which offers a customizable suite of services for both merchants and vendors, will expand its services to both MVB Bank and its fintech clients, reports IBS Intelligence.

U.K. bank launches money transfer app
At a time when digital banking transactions are peaking, Spanish banking giant Santander is launching a new low-cost mobile money transfer app in the U.K. The PagoFX payment transfer service allows U.K. residents with a debit card issued by any U.K. bank or financial entity to send money abroad from their smartphone with low costs, bank-level security and customer support via in-app chat and email. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, transfer service fees will be waived until mid-June. Daily Hodl has the details.

Betterment branches into banking
Joining other fintechs who are staking their claim in the banking marketplace, robo-adviser Betterment has partnered with traditional banks to launch FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts. The accounts offer zero ATM fees, no overdraft or other checking fees, and no minimum balance requirements, as well as insight into cash flow, spend analysis, and overall financial health monitoring. The New York-based fintech plans to offer mobile check deposit and joint checking accounts in the future. Banking Dive has the details.

Spams, Scams, and Breaches

• Security Week: Coronavirus cyber complaints continue to rise
• Help Net Security: Fake termination and payroll emails phishing for credentials
• Sophos: Large U.S. IT services company fell victim to Maze ransomware attack
• Bloomberg: UniCredit employee data leaked and being sold on cybercrime forum
• Threatpost: Hackers launch age-old Excel malware attack technique with a new twist
• Security Week: Company compromises on the rise due to COVID WFH lockdowns
• Threatpost: Cyberattackers sending 1.5M malicious COVID-19 related emails per day

Updates, Patches, and Alerts...

• US-CERT: Current Activity
• Firstpost: Google fixes critical security issue in Chrome
• Threatpost: Microsoft issues out-of-band security update for Office, Paint 3D
• Security Week: OpenSSL update patches a high-severity vulnerability that can be exploited for DOS attacks

See what other current hot cyber and technology topics affecting financial institutions BOL users are discussing in the Technology Forum.

And on the lighter side...

This week marked the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, the annual celebration of the environmental movement. With the planet essentially closed due to a worldwide pandemic and Earth Day events canceled, you can show your support by going green with some of these environmentally minded gadgets.