BISMARCK, ND and SUNNYVALE, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 27, 2012) - BNC National Bank, an innovative national bank serving customers in North Dakota, Arizona, and Minnesota, is improving online security to help protect customers from cyber thieves targeting online banking users of ACH and wire transfer services. Industry analyst firm Gartner estimates that cyber criminals have stolen more than $3 billion from banks, business and municipalities in the United States using financial malware. The bank will be proactively offering IronKey [ Trusted Access ] to its commercial cash management customers, enabling secure access to the BNC online banking site and protecting clients at the point most vulnerable to malware -- their own PCs.

Trusted Access allows the bank to meet and exceed new Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (FFIEC) guidance with which all financial institutions must comply in 2012 to reduce their risk of online banking fraud. All of BNC's ACH and wire transfer customers will be asked to use the IronKey Trusted Access software by the bank.

"It is important for us to provide products and services that not only meet the financial needs of our customers but their security needs as well. With Trusted Access we know that they are protected against the latest attacks, even on their own PC," said Shawn Cleveland, BNC National Bank's chief operating officer.

The Anti-Phishing Working Group (APWG) estimates that 39 percent of all computers are infected with crimeware designed to steal personal and account information. According to real-time research from SpyEye Tracker⁽¹⁾, today's anti-malware software fails to detect these kinds of threats at least 75 percent of the time. The FFIEC has found that these attacks compromise "virtually all forms of authentication." As a result, online account take overs are growing at a rate of 150 percent each year based upon research published by the Financial Service Information Sharing and Analyst Center (FS-ISAC).

Trusted Access combines the use of software and cloud-based services. The software can either be downloaded or run from a secure USB device. The Trusted Access Platform provides financial institutions with multiple layers of security integrated to dramatically reduce the risk of online banking fraud. Trusted Access launches a protected, virtualized operating system and Web browser that will only work with IronKey's Trusted Network, which when deployed, only allows the end user to access bank-approved sites from the secure browser. The secure Web browser protects online banking sessions from both known and unknown crimeware. Unlike other approaches, Trusted Access assumes a client's computer is already infected with the latest zero-day attack that would go undetected by anti-virus and other software technologies. Even if a computer is infected with malware, IronKey Trusted Access keeps the online banking session safe, secure and private.

"BNC National Bank is taking proactive measures to protect the bank's valuable reputation in the community as well as their customers from a problem that is costing the industry billions of dollars every year," said Arthur Wong, CEO of IronKey. "With IronKey Trusted Access, the bank is meeting the new FFIEC guidelines and providing its customers an effective means to prevent online banking fraud."

For more information about BNC National Bank and their Trusted Access offering, visit [ www.BNCBank.com ] or call 1-800-262-2265. More information about IronKey [ Trusted Access ] is available online.

About BNCCORP, INC.
BNCCORP, INC. (OTCQB: [ BNCC ]), headquartered in Bismarck, N.D., is a registered bank holding company dedicated to providing banking and wealth management services to businesses and consumers in its local markets. The Company operates community banking, mortgage banking and wealth management businesses in Arizona, Minnesota and North Dakota. BNC also conducts mortgage banking from locations in Illinois, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. The Company offers financial products and services to meet the financial needs of its current customers and potential customers, in the markets it serves.

About IronKey
IronKey's award-winning Trusted Access helps financial institutions reduce the risk of online fraud, achieve compliance with Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) guidelines, and acquire new customers with a competitive advantage. More than 70 financial institutions secure their brands and billions in customer online payments with IronKey.

Ranked as the 14th best venture-funded company in The Wall Street Journal's "Next Big Thing," IronKey cloud-based services power Trusted Access and partner solutions, including Imation secure storage devices. IronKey is freeing enterprises from the high cost, risk and complexity of managing the extended enterprise. IronKey cloud services are used daily by over 3,000 enterprises to manage online access and data for over one million users. Visit [ www.IronKey.com ] for more information.

Resources
[ Watch Trusted Access in Action: Crimeware Attacks Defeated ] guided demonstration.
"[ Protecting Online Banking Customers from Evolving Cyber Crime Threats ]" -- webcast explains the latest [ bank phishing ] attacks, the [ ZeuS Trojan and SpyEye ], and why anti-virus software, firewalls and other conventional safeguards are not able to stop these attacks.

⁽¹⁾ SpyEye Tracker, January 11, 2012, [ https://spyeyetracker.abuse.ch/ ]