Jack Shubitowski, President & CEO of Huron Valley State Bank Named Citizen of the Year
President & CEO Jack Shubitowski was awarded the honorable distinction of Citizen of the Year by the Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce.  Each year the chamber recognizes one deserving individual who has performed outstanding service for the betterment of the community through participation in civic, political, charitable, business, educational or other activities, over and above normal work assignments. 

The Chamber recognized Jack at the annual Christmas Parade in downtown Milford this past November and at the Chamber's Annual President's Dinner Dance/Holiday Gala earlier this month.  In addition he was featured in the Milford Times.  For the whole story, click here.

Huron Valley State Bank Announces Their
Partnership with Heritage Elementary School

Huron Valley State Bank is pleased to announce their partnership with Heritage Elementary School for the "Bank at School" program. The bank opened for business on Friday, October 21st after a ceremonial Ribbon Cutting at 9:15 am, and will operate the third Friday of every month.  This is the third elementary school partnership for Huron Valley State Bank. 

"Bank at School" is modeled after the Bank at School Program with Spring Mills Elementary formed in 2011 and Johnson Elementary in 2015.  Huron Valley State Bank will work together to teach students the importance of personal financial planning and the benefits of saving.   Fifth grade students wrote essays and interviewed for positions of tellers, marketing representatives and managers and were trained for their respective roles. The student bankers will assist their fellow students with their banking transactions and oversee operations at the deposit-only bank. 

Heritage Elementary is a certified Leader In Me, Covey School located in Highland. "This ties right in with the Leader In Me Program," said Sheri Miles, Marketing Director of Huron Valley State Bank. "It teaches the students to be proactive and take initiative in planning for their future, along with learning crucial life skills".  
"We are delighted to form this valuable partnership with Huron Valley State Bank.  We look forward to our continued relationship and being able to give the students at Heritage Elementary this hands-on financial literacy program that incorporates leadership skills, math skills and most importantly life skills," said Jenna Stevens, Principal of Heritage Elementary. 

The student bankers are as follows:  Ethan Buckner (Branch Manager), Ayla Jednacz (Assistant Manager), Nicole McConnell (Teller), Ellie DeYoung (Teller), Brynn Dudley (Teller), Skyla Spencer (Marketing Rep), Gwen Krohn (Marketing Rep), Natalie Elpedes (Marketing Rep), and Austin Hervey (Marketing Rep). 
Have You Been a Victim of Identity Theft?
Yes - You Have! 
If you think you haven't been the victim of a data breach, you are probably wrong. In fact, some experts think that more identities of those in the United States have been compromised than have not. It's at the point that cyber criminals now may know more about us than companies with which we do business. In addition, Symantec reported that in 2015, additional tens of millions of personal records were stolen by or exposed to cyber criminals that were not reported. This is an 85% increase over the previous year. Security experts find this to be quite a disturbing trend.

Large companies that are targeted will likely be targeted multiple times in 2016. There are a few tips that both individuals and businesses can consider to help lower the risk.

For Individuals:
  • Use strong passwords that are at least eight characters and contain upper and lower case letters, numbers, and special characters. Use a unique password for each online account and change them every three months if possible.
  • Be certain that any links or attachments clicked are safe. Confirm those that are unexpected before taking any action to view them.
  • Use anti-virus and anti-malware software on all devices. Keep it updated at all times. Make sure that all software products are kept up-to-date with the most current security and critical patches and that firmware is updated as well.
  • When deciding on what software or apps to use, do the research on the products. Read the reviews and make sure they are from reputable companies. Don't be afraid to pay for them and be wary of freebies. Those should be researched even more thoroughly. When downloading apps, use the official app stores for your devices. Sideloading adds additional risk.
  • Limit what information you put on social media or disclose to anyone. The more you share publicly (even if it's just to your friends, it's still technically public), the more it may be used against you. This is particularly important on professional networking sites where you list your job title and function. Scammers often use that for business email compromise (BEC) scams.
     
Source: https://www.stickleyonsecurity.com/sos_examples.jspx?sosnoteid=1433
Traveling Out of State?  Contact the Bank
Please contact the bank if you are planning to travel out of state to avoid the interruption of your debit card.  We also can advise you how to best conduct your transactions (signature vs. PIN in certain states).
Security Tips to Protect Your Identity
During The Holidays
It's a wonderful time of year for some. Unfortunately, that means the cyber thieves are also lurking around trying to make a profit off everyone else's holiday cheer. However, there are some things you can do to lower the risk of your payment card information being stolen with all those swipes in the point-of-sale (POS) machines.

Shopping at brick-and-mortar stores:
  1. If you are given the option to use your card as debit or credit, choose credit. While you still have protections when using it as debit, the possibility of your card being re-created and used at an ATM increases when the thieves also have your PIN.
  2. If you have the choice of using a payment card with a chip, use that over the one that only has the magnetic strip. It's a little tougher to duplicate them and to get the information from them, should malware be lurking in the retailer's system.
  3. Supporting small business is great, but beware of getting a false sense of security because they are "mom and pop" stores. Cyber criminals are targeting these smaller businesses more often these day for various reasons. Use the same safeguards you would for any retail purchase.
  4. Check payment card statements diligently during the season. Do this even more often than normal. The more you swipe or insert cards, the higher the risk of the information from them being stolen and used for fraudulent purchases. If you notice something that doesn't look familiar, call the card issuer right away.

Shopping online:

Online shopping is a great way to do your holiday shopping. However, there are different security considerations when doing so.
  1. Password reuse is catching people off guard more and more these days. So dare to be different and use unique passwords for each account.
  2. If you haven't changed your online account passwords lately for your favorite retailers, take a moment to do so. It's recommended that passwords be changed regularly. Do this quarterly if possible.
  3. Make sure the sites you are putting payment card information into are secure. Look for the little lock icon in the browser and for "https://" preceding the web address. Sometimes there will be green highlight on the URL indicating the site is secure. If none of these are present, don't enter personal information.
  4. Beware of malicious advertising. Cyber criminals are inserting malware into these ads, catching unsuspecting ad clickers off guard. It is safer to go directly to the website being advertised rather than clicking an ad.
  5. However, if you like clicking those ads, be sure to have anti-virus and anti-malware software installed and kept updated on every device used to do shopping. If you don't care for the ads, consider ad-blocking software and apps to prevent accidentally clicking on them.
As always, use caution whenever using payment cards in any environment. And remember that most retailers will always gladly accept cash.


Source: https://www.stickleyonsecurity.com/sos_examples.jspx?sosnoteid=1473
Fun Money Fact
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing uses 9.7 tons of ink each day


Huron Valley State Bank
248.684.9626
marketing@hvsb.com
http://www.hvsb.com/