People’s Bank’s has headquarters (above) at 850 Main St. in Bridgeport, but – like other banks – it operates various remote sites in case of emergency.

Looking toward a rapidly approaching war with Iraq, two of Connecticut’s largest banks have continued to upgrade and update their security systems, keeping a watchful eye on their remote banking sites.

People’s Bank and Webster Bank, both based in Bridgeport, host remote sites to house their computer infrastructure as well as banking operations in case of emergency. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, there was a renewed focus on bank security, keeping particular focus on off-site locations that would allow banks to operate without incident in the instance of war or terrorist attack.

With the country currently at an “orange,” or high-level, terror alert and preparing for war at press time, bank spokesmen – while not revealing specific locations of their remote sites – took time to discuss their security measures.

“Webster Bank does have a backup site for its computer center, which is probably the single most important operation we have,” said Art House, spokesman for Webster. “We do have alternative sites for our operations as well.”

House said that confidence in banking is extremely important, and Webster takes very seriously the obligation to reassure customers that “everything is going to be fine and operations will always be available.”

Valerie Carlson, spokeswoman for People’s Bank in Bridgeport, said that People’s is “always very focused on the customer and the safety of customers and employees.” She added that financial safety and security also is a priority.

“We have a number of plans in place for disaster recovery and disaster response. They are tailored to the kind of situation we find ourselves in based on different factors and levels of concern,” said Carlson.

People’s employs a disaster recovery unit to maintain the operation of its security system and remote sites.

Webster utilizes an emergency management team. House said the team is constantly reviewing and revising how to respond to unforeseen emergencies, keeping up to date with the latest technology and software.

“Take the cell phone, for example,” he said. “If you had taken an emergency management book off the shelf five years ago, the cell phone wouldn’t have played the role it can today.” House added that the emergency management team tries to use technology to the bank’s advantage.

When asked what it would have to happen before Webster started operating its remote site, House said, “The most direct answer is when a site became inoperable, we’d switch to Plan B.”

Backup Plan

Webster has both a computer center and several different operation centers so that the bank can continue to operate under several different scenarios.

“We have built-in ways to continue to manage the bank, and we have people who stay on top of the situation,” said House, noting that often the remote sites are located outside of Connecticut.

“You need to make your backup as good as your existing infrastructure, so if we have something go wrong in Connecticut, we wouldn’t want our remote sites to be in the same area, or on the same power grid,” said House.

So far, Webster hasn’t had to use its remote sites, but they are tested often.

Despite all of the efforts that banks have put into security, customers rarely ask questions about the safety of their money.

“We very rarely get questions about security, but I think related to that question is the question of where our headquarters are based,” said House. “With the advent of interstate banking you do see that question asked frequently, and I think that has as much to do with concerns about routine calls routed out of state, or concerns about community relations or contributions to local community affairs. But also I get the sense that people want to know where can they go if they have a problem, where everything is managed from, and the motivation behind that is security.”

As far as recent events are concerned, House said his security team takes note of when the national security warnings are raised to high levels, such as the current “orange” level.

“Our head of security is on the list of calls, so he often finds out before anyone else does [when] status is changed, so we’re very much in loop. Having said that, the alerts are a pretty general thing. There isn’t anything specific about changes in color codes, so you don’t suddenly order 10 more security guards. There’s very little precise focus on what threat there may be. If we should ever get indication that we have a terrorist alert directed specifically at banks, then fine, we’ll do something about it. Otherwise we simply take note of the situation,” said House.

Like Webster, People’s looks very seriously at new technology and the state of the bank’s physical plant. Carlson said the bank will continue to actively apply new technology and methods to its remote banking sites and computer systems.

She agreed with House that customers rarely question security.

“People’s has been around for 160 years, and lived through the Civil War, two World Wars, Vietnam and other conflicts, so there’s that sense of long-term stability and security that we’ve been able to build on,” said Carlson. “We’re always talking to our customers, listening to them and making sure they know how seriously we take their concerns.”