CBWY Blog

Keeping our customers, our communities and our employees safe is a top priority and we want to share the steps we are taking in response to coronavirus.

The response from federal, state, and local government agencies and organizations to support the economy during the pandemic created fertile ground for scammers. With tens of millions of newly jobless or furloughed Americans filing for unemployment benefits and the federal government paying individual stimulus checks to avert further economic crisis, criminals have been making a fortune.

Several state governments have been targeted by a sophisticated fraud campaign that has likely siphoned millions of dollars in unemployment payments earmarked for the record number of Americans seeking benefits as a result of the pandemic, a new Secret Service memo warns.

It’s that time again for CBWY’s annual “Race to a Million”.  For the next 90 days NLB (CBWY) teams of three will be lacing up their walking shoes and putting their best feet forward and race to be the first team to reach one million steps.  The first team to reach a million steps will win bragging rights, and a total of $750 for the team to donate to the nonprofit of their choice.  That $250 for each team member! 

It’s World Password Day, and much like every other day of the year, the state of password security is terrible. 

Despite repeated warnings from security experts and IT departments, “123456” is still the most common password for the last seven years, narrowly edging out “password.” The problem isn’t limited to easily guessed passwords: a recent study of remote workers found that 42 percent of employees physically write passwords down, 34 percent digitally capture them on their smartphones, and at least 20 percent admit to using the same password across multiple work accounts.  Enter the password manager: an application or service that consolidates the credentials for all a user’s accounts. If you stop reading here: Password managers are not failsafe

When it comes to protecting yourself online, there’s no silver bullet. Security software may block some incoming threats, VPNs can secure your communications, and sound data hygiene can prevent data leaks and breaches. But there’s one strategy that can both help to prevent and recover from otherwise catastrophic data incidents: Regularly backing up files and data.

Every year Commerce Bank of Wyoming teams up with the American Bankers Association in a joint effort to Teach Children to Save.  This year, with classrooms across the nation moving to the kitchen table, we are bringing Teach Children to Save into your home as well.  We want to provide you with tools and fun activities that will break the ice and start a conversation with your kids about money.  

It goes by many names, the Corona Relief Act, the Cares Act and Economic Impact Payments, no matter what name you may call it, this $2 trillion aid package is starting to find its way in to most Americans bank accounts.  We would like to break down some facts and frequently ask questions regarding the Economic Impact Payment.

Businesses across the country have had to adjust to their employees working from home. For many it was a last-minute scramble to adjust to what has become “the new normal” in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. As businesses and their employees settle into what could be for many a span of several weeks or months with a mandatory or recommended work from home order, organizations large and small face a potential company-killer: their surface of potentially vulnerable technology grew exponentially overnight.

Video conferencing platform Zoom has been crowded with the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and the adoption of social distancing measures. Criminal cyber activity has grown alongside Zoom’s burgeoning user base. By far the most common issue for those attending virtual meetings is something called “Zoombombing,” where rowdy meeting crashers create chaos during meetings, letting loose a barrage of NSFW chat messages and porn imagery via Zoom’s Screen Share feature.