Does anyone see any audit/compliance issues with allowing employees to perform night processing from home? From what I understand, the process is started first at the bank, then the employees use laptops to sign into bank's system to finish processing nightly work, been told it's just a matter of selecting certain functions to run. Are any other banks doing this?

We do not do this and honestly I don't think that is a wise move to make. You have a laptop/pc at home that can be connected into the banks database and their network. This is just a disaster waiting to happen in my opinion. What if this laptop gets stolen or someone that is not quite so honest in your home and you walk and leave that laptop unattended and they can view any information they would want.

Now I am Audit, but I was in IT 20 years before I came here and unless you have somethig secure in place I am not aware of....I just don't like the idea!!!

Why would it be any different for IT to work at home than anyone else? When I worked for a big bank, whoever was on call in IT helped you from home. If you had a problem, you needed help right then, not "when he can get there". As long as you have the security in place to access the systems, I don't know why it would have to be done from the bank.

I take work home all the time with my PC. There is always of course the risk that the laptop could get stolen, but we have additional security on our laptops that won't even allow you to do anything until you sign into the laptop itself. I believe that if you have the appropriate security in place, it should be a non-issue.

My fiance is in IT for his bank. He has a type of Verisign-like gadget that changes every 30 seconds to authorize entry in the system. You need to have both the laptop and the gadget in order to access the Bank's network. There are zillions of times he needs to do updates and installs in the middle of the night, he just can't do them during the day because it is too disruptuive to the bank. Also, he is on call even when he's on vacation...

Our IT staff have a company laptop and use a VNP connection to access the Network. Each laptop is password encrypted. There are layers of security that are in place. For example, there is a password to:
1) access the laptop in order to get to the log in screen
2) access the laptop login screen
3) access the VPN
4) access the remote desktop to the Network (you also have to know the IP address of the server being used to access the Network)
5) access the server or PC that you are updating, troublingshooting, etc. (which also requires knowledge of the IP address of the machine)

Also, there is NO company information on the laptop.

On the other hand it can be a curse. I am a member of the IT staff but also have other responsibilites within the bank. I often work at home (after I get home from work).

I usually work from home a few days a week. I have a token to sign in through our bank's vpn network. I have found that I can be very productive from home and much more comfortable.

I know that several members of our IT staff work from home on a regular basis.