Online Fraud Prevention Case Study: Star One Credit Union

Profile

Star One Credit Union is Silicon Valley's largest, member-owned financial institution. Star One offers financial services to approximately 75,000 members worldwide. With assets near $3.5 billion, Star One is ranked 17th in total assets among more than 8,700 credit unions nationally. Operating as it does in the heart of a major U.S. technology region, Star One's members tend to be technologically savvy and heavy users of its hosted online banking service. Many members are high net worth individuals with considerable assets under Star One management. The credit union is therefore aggressive in its strategic approach to online member service.

Problem

Prior to engaging with Guardian Analytics, Star One was well aware of the threats posed by fraudsters to both its online channel and stellar reputation with members. Similar to many financial institutions, it actively pursues fraud prevention best practices to mitigate fraud losses. Unlike many institutions, however, Star One was actively seeking the latest technologies to track and investigate suspicious online activity that would be compatible with its hosted banking environment. In late 2006, Star One began its evaluation of the Guardian Analytics solution. The evaluation team became particularly impressed with Guardian's ability to analyze member login activity and control alert generation to manageable levels.

Solution

After extensive evaluation of Guardian Analytics against live online banking activity, Star One selected the solution because of its proven ability to flag fraud methods that other technologies missed on a consistent basis. Star One became convinced of the unique value of Guardian's high fidelity risk scoring, timely alerting, rich investigative capabilities, and cross-functional utility. The software went live in early 2007. The Guardian Analytics solution is a cornerstone of Star One's overall layered security approach called Synergy Security Solution.

Results

The Guardian Analytics solution has proven to be a strong component in Star One's online security strategy:

• Star One relies on Guardian Analytics to combat fraud through early detection and actionable analysis, aiding a wide variety of staff in investigating member account activity
• Star One remains pleased with its outstanding level of discovery, manageable daily workload, and strong protection delivered
• Star One has even extended the software's application beyond this original intent, into other departments of its offline banking operation such as due diligence on wire transfer approvals and correlation with suspicious call center activity
• FraudMAP has helped Star One avert up to $500,000 in fraud losses during the first six months of usage

Star One considers itself ahead of the curve in terms of online security and best practices, predicting that the Guardian Analytics solution will be widely adopted by the financial services industry within the next few years.

"The Guardian Analytics solution is a major part of our overall online banking security strategy, specifically excelling in the area of user access analysis and profiling. "

Fred Shuherk Jr.

Web Services Manager
Star One Credit Union