Mechanics Bank Selects Farm9 for 24x7 Compliance and Internet Security Monitoring Service

Business Wire, Nov 16, 2004

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Growing Community Bank Leverages Security Experts, Freeing Internal Team to Focus on Leading Technologies That Deliver Superior Customer Service

Farm9, the leading network security compliance company for western U.S. banks, today announced that $2 billion Mechanics Bank, headquartered in Hercules, Calif., has selected the Farm9 Security Compliance Package for community banks to provide 24x7 expertise on security monitoring, analysis and auditing, allowing its internal technology experts to pursue projects that deliver ever-higher levels of service for the bank's customers.

The Farm9 Bank Security Compliance Package provides a wide range of information security services specifically designed for banks and financial institutions like Mechanics Bank seeking to meet and exceed regulatory requirements for security, privacy and processes. The package features around-the-clock analytic network monitoring as well as regularly scheduled security testing and assessments as recommended by FFIEC, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), FDIC and OCC.

Said Tony Chavez, CIO at Mechanics Bank, "With Farm9 as our security partner, our engineers are spending their time developing banking technologies expertise rather than burning cycles on day-to-day monitoring and compliance tracking. Farm9 has security expertise combined with a focus on compliance and impressive responsiveness, giving us an ally in providing security and privacy for our clients."

The Farm9 Security Compliance Package includes:

--24x7 security monitoring of critical network devices

--Evolving vulnerability analysis and alerting

--Intrusion detection to identify and isolate actual attacks

--Audit trail preservation with off-site storage

--Archiving of forensic evidence to reduce liability and assist prosecution

--24x7 customer support and technical security consulting

--Annual enterprise security assessment

--Weekly Internet vulnerability scanning

"The Security Compliance Package gives banks customized compliance assurance for the wide range of regulatory, financial and privacy issues facing them today," said Guy Morgan, CEO of Farm9. "We're pleased to be Mechanics Bank's Internet security partner with this solution."

About Farm9

Farm9 is an information security company providing regulatory-compliant solutions to the banking industry. Farm9's services include network security monitoring and analysis (managed security services) and information security assessments to ensure compliance with federal and state information security guidelines and regulations. Unlike other information security companies, Farm9 is laser-focused on the regulations governing financial institutions, and community banks in particular; providing compliance with FFIEC, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), Sarbanes-Oxley Act, NCUA and the California Breach Disclosure law as well as information security requirements of HIPAA, OMB, FERC, and FERPA. Farm9's clients include The Mechanics Bank, American Marine Bank, Tamalpais Bank, Delta National Bank and more than 5 percent of mid-size banks in the western U.S. Farm9 team members are known for their security expertise and are the creators of CryptCat, one of the most widely-used open source anti-hacker tools.