Compliance, Security and Confidence

Steven Jones, Vice President and Director of Information Security for Synovus Financial Corp., talks to ITO about ID management.

Steven Jones holds responsibility for the company's organizational policy, risk management, security awareness, identity management, disaster recovery, and other areas if risk management. As a member of senior management, he aids in technology planning, regulatory compliance, business solution delivery, policy, and strategy.

Mr. Jones joined Synovus Financial in 1995 before becoming Vice President, Director of Network Research & Development in 1999 and ultimately Vice President Director Information Security in June 2001. Synovus is a financial; services holding company with $32 billion in assets based in Columbus, Georgia.

The company provides commercial and retail banking, as well as investment services, to customers through 37 banks, 440 ATMS, and other offices. Synovus has been names one of 'The 100 Best Companies to Work For' in America by FORTUNE magazine, and has been recognized in its Hall of Fame for consecutive appearances on the list since its inception in 1998.

When asked what Jones was doing to ensure that identity theft and fraud did not play a role in his business, he said:

• 'Back in 2006, mandates for strong authentication basically required that all financial institutions conduct a risk assessment and evaluate all of their online channels and determine the appropriate level of authentication as it related to each of those individual channels. We with the rest of the banking community conducted that assessment and put it forth the appropriate measures of authentication.'