Leading Mortgage Services Provider Secures Non-Public Personal Information with Vormetric’s CoreGuard System
Santa Clara, Calif., – August 30, 2004 – Vormetric Inc., the leading provider of security solutions for protecting sensitive information, announced today that Ocwen Financial Corporation (NYSE: OCN) selected Vormetric’s CoreGuard Data Security System for the protection and encryption of non-public, personally identifiable financial information. The Ocwen REALTrans business-to-business information exchange uses the CoreGuard solution to secure approximately one million mortgage-related orders per month for insurance, appraisals and property data, earning the “Protected by Vormetric” logo and rapidly solving Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) information protection requirements, especially as delineated in section 501(b) of that law.
“Security of our customers’ information is our highest concern,” said Dale Pickford, CIO, Ocwen. “Our technology is used by the nation’s leading mortgage and real-estate companies that collectively originated 40% of all mortgages last year. Security and reliability are paramount, since we are protecting their customer relationships, as well as our own. We chose to display the “Protected by Vormetric” logo on our web site to communicate our uncompromising commitment to keeping our customers’ information secure.”
“A variety of new regulations are causing organizations to examine the need to selectively encrypt sensitive data that resides within databases and file systems on corporate servers,” said Mark Nicolett, vice president of Gartner Research. “The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 requires that financial institutions ensure the security and confidentiality of customer personal information against ‘reasonably foreseeable’ internal or external threats.”
While GLBA compliance is a leading security driver for financial services companies, these organizations also need to consider the “cost of ownership” of their security implementations, as well as the impact such solutions can have on the performance of their IT infrastructures. After evaluating several potential solutions, including column encryption, Ocwen chose Vormetric’s CoreGuard because it met all of Ocwen’s security needs. The company’s need for selective encryption of sensitive data in a high-performance OLTP database is achieved without the management, implementation and performance issues associated with other alternatives.
CoreGuard’s innovative architecture operates at the file-system level to eliminate the need for customization of applications or network fabrics. Maximizing the benefits for Ocwen, CoreGuard integrates with Ocwen’s IT infrastructure and its Sybase database management system through VERITAS Quick I/O. CoreGuard’s seamless integration into the infrastructure allowed the solution to be up and running quickly. Moreover, by operating at the file-system level, CoreGuard security functions are transparent to users, as well as to the IT infrastructure, so Ocwen did not have to train or prepare data users in any way and their experience and normal workflow remained consistent.
Ocwen uses Vormetric’s CoreGuard System to protect its REALTrans solution. REALTrans is a Web-based, e-marketplace application that facilitates electronic ordering of real estate products and services (e.g., title insurance, appraisals, Broker Price Opinions [BPOs], FEMA flood hazard determinations, real property data) from the largest network of vendors available in the US. REALTrans’ integrated client base includes hundreds of leading financial institutions. With CoreGuard, REALTrans provides rapid access to highly sensitive information while strongly protecting customers’ privacy.
“For customers, such as Ocwen, wishing to communicate their robust protection of sensitive information, Vormetric provides its customers the opportunity to display a ‘Protected by Vormetric’ logo on their Web site,” said Bill Schroeder, president and CEO of Vormetric. “We believe that this logo provides our customers with a competitive advantage by demonstrating a substantial commitment to securing their customers’ confidential information, backed up with their investment in a state-of-the-art technical solution.”
By enabling strong information protection across widespread, heterogeneous environments, the CoreGuard System simplifies the enforcement of enterprise data security policies. The transparency and extensibility of CoreGuard’s architecture allow information to be protected regardless of where it is stored, or in what form it is stored. CoreGuard allows central management of information protection policies, ensuring consistent enforcement of data security across extended, dynamic environments. This enables enterprises to successfully meet the challenge of enforcing enterprise-wide information protection policies.
About Vormetric
Vormetric Inc. is the leading provider of solutions for protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access or theft. The company’s innovative CoreGuard Data Security System complements traditional perimeter security methods by directly protecting valuable digital assets and enforcing policies designed to comply with data privacy regulations. The CoreGuard System is a comprehensive information protection solution comprised of stored data encryption, fine-grain data access control, and both host and application protection. The company is funded by JK&B Capital, QTV Capital, Sigma Partners and Vanguard Ventures and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. www.vormetric.com
Vormetric, the Vormetric logo, CoreGuard and MetaClear are trademarks of Vormetric, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.
About Ocwen
Ocwen Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services holding company with headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida, and a presence in Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, and Taiwan. Ocwen Financial Corporation is engaged in a variety of businesses related to residential and commercial mortgage servicing, real estate asset management, asset recovery, global outsourcing, and the marketing and sales of technology solutions to third parties. Ocwen Financial Corporation is a global leader in customer service excellence as a result of our company-wide commitment to quality, integrity and accountability. Additional information about Ocwen Financial Corporation is available at www.ocwen.com.