TweetMyMoney Thoughts

Yesterday was an exciting day for us here at Vantage Credit Union. You might have noticed we launched our new tweetMyMoney service (which you can use via computer or cell phone) to obtain certain types of information about your Vantage account. This is the first and only service we know of to offer such capability, so we’re proud of it. It’s not every day we get to create something unique and exciting in an industry that can be…let’s face it…a bit dull. But, TweetMyMoney is not about our ego, our pride or even jumping on the latest “web 2.0” technology bandwagon. It’s about offering you a convenient way to access your account information in a manner that no other financial provider can.

Like other innovations launched throughout history, tweetMyMoney has quickly generated a lot of passionate commentary and opinions in the technology blogsphere. Basically, one group of people loves the idea, while the others think we’re crazy. Ironically, the same two opinions are heard whenever the topic of Twitter is discussed. So, I would like to address some concerns I’ve seen posted on various “technology expert” blogs, as well as bring those of you unfamiliar with Twitter or tweetMyMoney up-to-speed. It’s my hope that this post will help generate some insightful discussion as well as alleviate any security concerns for those of you “on the fence” about trying tweetMyMoney.

What is Twitter?
Not everyone uses Twitter or is familiar with the service, so here’s a quick description paraphrased from Wikipedia: Twitter (www.twitter.com) is a free social networking service on the Internet that enables its users to share information with other people by typing short messages (“tweets”) in 140 characters or less. Tweets are published to the author’s profile page where subscribers (“followers”) can read them. The author can restrict the viewing of tweets to a group of friends or can allow anyone using Twitter to view them. Twitter users can also “direct message” another Twitter user one-on-one, similar to sending an e-mail. This last point is important as it describes how you communicate with us using the tweetMyMoney service, which I’ll talk about more in a minute.

What is tweetMyMoney?
TweetMyMoney is our first (of several to come) banking solution that can be used to access certain types of information about your account via cell phone (or computer). This service does not replace MyVantage, our online banking service. Think of tweetMyMoney as an optional extension, or channel, that utilizes the Twitter network. If, for example, you are at a store and you need some basic information about your account before you make a purchase, you can now quickly obtain that information in a quick, safe way. However, since this is an optional service, you can also not enroll for it and continue to use our web-based MyVantage service.

Twitter Security & Uptime: Not Exactly the Best
Although Twitter itself is a convenient and useful application, it is not known for its strong security. Twitter is NOT secure. It is an unsecure network (like e-mail) and there have been multiple security breaches at Twitter that you may have heard about in the press. Just like with e-mail, you have to be careful of opening links, photos or videos from others so you don’t unknowingly download a computer virus or spyware.

Furthermore, Twitter has experienced network overloads and temporary system outages where users were unable to send tweets due to heavy volume (just like certain web based e-mail providers and telco companies). So, Twitter security and uptime are valid concerns – and we are fully aware of them – you should be too. That being said, now that I’ve probably scared you about Twitter security and uptime, you’re probably wondering… then why on earth did Vantage do this?

Quest for Mobile
Those of you familiar with Twitter know you can access it via cell phone. We’ve wanted to offer members a convenient mobile solution for a while now and have a plan for multiple offerings (see Cam’s post for details). TweetMyMoney via Twitter is the first (and boldest) solution of that plan. Yes, it’s a bit radical. Most innovations are. But implementing tweetMyMoney as the first step allowed us to offer you a mobile solution, in a safe way, at no cost. But, let me address the primary area of concern on everyone’s minds – security.

TweetMyMoney Security
We have heard from a vocal group of naysayers and read the blog posts by some “security experts” who claim tweetMyMoney is a security risk. While some of these folks make valid points (with regards to the Twitter network being unsecure), most of the negative comments and opinions we’ve seen are simply not correct. Those who are making incorrect statements are basing their logic on assumptions and then jumping to unrealistic conclusions without having all the facts.

What we will say publicly is that when you use tweetMyMoney, you are NOT sending direct message tweets to our online banking server. There are other systems responsible for communicating to and from Twitter. The information contained in your tweets, as well as the information sent back to you, are generic. Twitter hash tag commands. Dollar amounts. Dates. Suffix codes. Useless information to anyone but you. In fact, most of this type of information is sent to people everyday by virtually all financial institutions in the form of e-alerts. If your Twitter account was somehow compromised at Twitter and you had not deleted your direct messages returned from tweetMyMoney, all a hacker would see is this  information, which is useless to him. One way to minimize your risk is to delete all direct messages from us after you view them. (Not part of tweetMyMoney, but a related subject...follow a similar practice of deleting any e-alerts you receive via e-mail from any financial institution, including Vantage, after you view them). Additionally, some of the naysayers have stated that we are storing Twitter credentials on our system. That is absolutely FALSE.

Keep in mind, no account number or other sensitive personal information is displayed in tweetMyMoney. All the sensitive information is kept safe here behind the online banking firewall. And you cannot transfer money out of your account using tweetMyMoney (you can transfer money from within your account like checking to savings).

Second, we have implemented a new security feature called Correspondence Authentication Codes inside the MyVantage online banking service. Every outbound electronic communication from us now contains a unique code for each day of the week. You can view these codes inside your user profile section of MyVantage. Our system generates these for you, but you can change them whenever you want or leave them as-is. But these security codes are not the silver security bullet – they are just one of many security elements. There is such more technology security behind the scenes here at Vantage that ties into the tweetMyMoney service to protect you but we simply don’t want to share or communicate details for obvious reasons.

We have taken extraordinary steps to ensure tweetMyMoney is safe. We have run its design and security controls by an industry-leading firm that has an exceptional track record in this line of work. They provided an unbiased opinion and helped validate our approach before we launched. Despite all our due diligence, if we suspect or find any REAL security threats, we’ll cancel the service immediately.

Your Thoughts?
Our tweetMyMoney banking service is the first of its kind—and we are proud of the fact that we brought it to market first. History has proven that whenever a company or person implements a radically new idea, that idea is usually met with a fair amount of skepticism and even ridicule. Some thought the Wright brothers were nuts, but now people fly everyday. Others were scared by microwave ovens for fear of radiation poisoning, but today this appliance is commonplace. Many people were horrified with the notion of giving access to information online, but today there are numerous ways to safely access and send information electronically. TweetMyMoney is an example. If you’re not comfortable with it, then by all means don’t use it. However, I hope those of you who use Twitter will give tweetMyMoney a try.

“Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity – not a threat.”