Reflection

I remember the collections world before electronic data interchange (EDI) formats; it was much simpler. Law firms keyed in all their business by hand, sent status reports on paper, and reported to their clients over the phone. Then, seemingly overnight, every Sender had their own ideas about what to send and how to send it; they wanted data in different sizes, shapes, and formats. While one Sender wanted debt amounts to be called “X”, the other wanted them called “Y”. The ripple of demands from our legal collection case management users requesting custom programming, to keep clients happy or build new business, continued to gain tidal wave strength over the years. Eventually software developers created hundreds of disparate EDI formats.

Looking back to the early days of YGC, now knowing it was only the beginning, I am in awe of it all! YGC standardized how Senders and Receivers transmitted information to each other. What an amazing journey it has been. I recall talking with clients and industry counterparts about the importance of standardization. I witnessed the impact on Senders’ abilities to connect with hundreds of law firms and speak the same language; ultimately, helping law firms grow their business.
Since its inception and through the late 1990s, YGC became the largest national legal recoveries network of our time processing about one million claims. In the 2000s, that number grew and exceeded into the millions in placements. To date, Vertican has more than 750 servicers connected, and it exchanges billions of data nationwide.

During those past decades, two significant factors occurred: 1. other proprietary interfaces required end-users to maintain an influx of functionality; 2. system requirements changed, including the recent retirement of Internet Explorer.

Compliance data is absolutely mission-critical; and financial data and KPI reporting have evolved beyond even YGC’s brilliant architecture. As such, the YGC model had become unsustainable from a cost, maintenance, and management standpoint.

We had seen this coming and our teams began engineering the next-generation Sender-Receiver data exchange to responsively meet industry and regulatory demands. As a result, our clients can now continue to grow and reduce their costs to collect on a groundbreaking platform which will only scale into the future: vExchange.

Following Every Sunset Comes a Sunrise

In Summer 2022, we said goodbye to perhaps the most revolutionary application the collections industry has seen … and we eagerly turn the page to vExchange.

The YGC sunset process consisted of reaching out to EVERY YGC Sender to educate them on the vExchange platform. There’s little doubt that change, even positive change, is not always a popular choice. Change can feel disarming, uneasy, and apprehensive. But “garbage in and garbage out” is no longer a part of Vertican’s language. Furthermore, the “same old, same old” is simply not a responsible option to the monumental task of data exchange – especially in the legal collections industry.

As the migration process progressed, commitments from Senders to move from YGC to vExchange firmed up, however some Senders considered exploring other options (and we respect that) which include build their own data delivery services using Vertican’s very own YGC standard license.

The Vertican staff worked tirelessly to contact everyone during the process prior to and during YGC’s decommissioning. Our teams have worked closely with every Receiver on behalf of our committed Senders to guide their onboarding to vExchange. Thousands of emails, phone calls, Zoom sessions, implementation meetings, and more have taken place this year.

Focusing Forward

I wonder if anyone could have imagined that YGC’s impact would have truly transformed our clients’ businesses and lives the way that it has over the past four incredible decades.

And yet now after riding this wave alongside our clients, I don’t have wonder if the same holds true for vExchange. Like we were back in the day, we are now on the cusp of new, trailblazing innovations including artificial intelligence, data insights, and next-generation automation that will transcend our clients’ profitability for decades to come.

The future is here bringing new opportunities to regulate and standardize an everchanging industry for the better. The collections industry is integral to our nation’s economy and we have a great responsibility to do things the right way. What an exciting time to be in it together and this is only the (new) beginning.

We hear the term “cybercrime” often enough, but it can mean different things to different people. As defined by Kaspersky, a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, cybercrime is criminal activity that either targets or uses a computer, a computer network, or a networked device. Most, but not all, cybercrime is committed by cybercriminals or hackers who want to make money and can be carried out by individuals or organizations. Cybercrimes can result in network intrusions that can cause lasting harm to your organization and its stakeholders. The bottom line is that cybercrime can jeopardize your company’s long-term reputation, security, and financial health.

Common types of cybercrimes include:

• Business email compromise (BEC) scams, where an attacker targets a business to defraud the company, exploiting the fact that so many of us rely on email to conduct business. BEC scams have exposed organizations to billions of dollars in potential losses.
• Identity theft happens when someone steals your personal information, such as your Social Security number, and uses it to commit theft or fraud.
• Ransomware is a type of malicious software, or malware, that can prevent you from accessing your computer files, systems, or networks and demands you pay a ransom for their return.
• Spoofing and phishing are schemes aimed at tricking people into providing sensitive information to criminals.

As companies have grown more dependent on technology to communicate and conduct business, cyberattacks have become a more commonplace occurrence. Cybercrime is so prevalent that in 2021 the U.S. government identified it a national security threat. Now, Vertican would like to share its experiences in this space to help our clients, partners, and industry counterparts mitigate this ongoing threat.

What Happened?

Like so many other companies, Vertican was the intended target of a sophisticated ransomware attack last year. Within hours of discovering the attempted attack, Vertican retained a leading cybersecurity and forensics firm to assist in responding to the threat, and later, to conduct a thorough incident investigation. The outcome of that investigation revealed that our response was effective – no client data was compromised – largely because of the processes and protocols Vertican had in place in advance.

How Did We Respond?

Security and data integrity are woven into our DNA at Vertican and because we had operational incident management policies and protocols already in place, Vertican’s response was successful. This included retaining a highly regarded incident response and forensics firm and beginning the restoration process within hours of the incident. When selecting a specialist provider, you should ensure they have the ability to leverage a combination of cutting-edge technologies to detect, validate, investigate, contain, and remediate threats with both speed and accuracy. Ideally, you should already know who you will use in case of a cyber threat or at a minimum have a short list of candidate firms who you would consider using in case of a cyber threat. Or better still it is most prudent to have a managed detection and response agreement that includes 24/7 monitoring. Figuring out what firm is best for you when under attack isn’t conducive to making the best decisions.

Where Are We Now?

Over the course of 2022, Vertican continued to invest in its cyber security and defense. Not surprisingly, we realize that defense measures begin with ensuring our team is fully educated and prepared to be Vertican’s first line of defense. This starts with requiring employees to sign a security policy and participate in follow-up training. The combination of both leads to greater cognitive and behavioral adherence to our codes of conduct.

In addition to our ongoing, customary security-related activities and policies, Vertican has also made investments to elevate our information security posture further, such as:

• Renewing our long-term MDR (Managed Detection & Response) agreement with a leading cybersecurity firm who actively monitor over 160 endpoints 24/7/365 with preauthorization to act without first seeking Vertican permission
• Retaining a seasoned vCISO (Virtual Chief Information Security Officer) with extensive financial services background and experience
• Performing ongoing Security Vulnerability Assessments and deploying and an industry leading EDR (End-Point Detection and Response) solution across all end points

Vertican’s executive team is committed to leading by example and promoting best-practice cyber security behaviors across the firm. This includes addressing and talking about potential security incidents from regular department-level huddles to monthly companywide All Hands meetings. We believe this helps reduce the “it won’t happen to me” thinking seen time and again in cyber incident postmortems.

Finally, as industry leaders, having an understanding of information security challenges, regular employee training and testing, and effective policy enforcement are critical components to successful defense. We can achieve this by preserving a strong relationship with our information security teams and regularly keeping ourselves and our team informed about the latest security advances – we encourage everyone to do the same. Facing the constant challenges of keeping your company safe is an endless battle and goes hand-in-hand with educating your co-workers about both cyber safety and common sense approaches to detecting and reporting scams.

Going Forward

As we have learned, obtaining cyber-insurance can be more challenging than ever before. However, being able to produce a formalized set of minimum-security baselines, policies, and program documents makes that task easier, and may even secure lower premiums. We hope that by proactively sharing our cybersecurity strategies and practices, our clients and the industry at large can benefit from our experience, policies, and resource investments. Taking the right security measures and being alert and aware when connected are key ways to prevent cyber intrusions and online crimes.
Questions?

Feel free to reach out to Stephen A. Greco, Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer, at [email protected], for more information about Vertican’s cyber security measures and policies. Stay safe.