Online Banking and Credit Card Trojan

[MacDR50]

Knowing that many on the road use online financial services I thought posting this would be a good reminder regarding security.

http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/e...s.asp?id=50589

[stiles watson]

That is a bit scary for those of us who do online business.

[dsprik]

Great, but what security precautions are recommended? Surely "don't do any online banking" is not an option?

[adelmoll]

Thanks Roger. We do everything online and are very thankful that our bank has taken as many precautions as they have even though it is a pain in the neck sometimes. When we go to our bank on line we first have to enter our user name. This will take us to another screen where we enter our password. Next we get a screen that asks us some personal questions. Only then can we go to the secured locked portion of our account. Course there are always going to be the crooks out there that will find a way anyway and drain your account. Can't be much worse than the stock market crooks draining our retirement funds.

Helen

Helen

[ols1932]

quote:Originally posted by adelmoll

Thanks Roger. We do everything online and are very thankful that our bank has taken as many precautions as they have even though it is a pain in the neck sometimes. When we go to our bank on line we first have to enter our user name. This will take us to another screen where we enter our password. Next we get a screen that asks us some personal questions. Only then can we go to the secured locked portion of our account. Course there are always going to be the crooks out there that will find a way anyway and drain your account. Can't be much worse than the stock market crooks draining our retirement funds.

Helen

Our bank on line has the same precautions. I like it.

Orv

[richfaa]

I post tghis from anothe thread on a similar suject

"We have a cap on our accounts at our bank that nothing over 1000.00 can be processed without our approval. That includes us and includes any card issued by that bank, Debit, Credit checking and savings accounts. We also have a credit monitor with the 3 major credit report outfits that lock out our credit reports so no one, can access them and it works. When we leased the new Honda the dealer could not access our credit report and we had to unlock it. We get a monthly report on our credit reports and a instant alert on changes. This is not something we just did but have been doing it for a long time" enquote. Our bank also has the precautions mentioned above..However as said...things can still happen.

[Waynem]

It is not so much the personal account log on that is a problem, although it needs to be protected no doubt. It is getting access to the database through whatever means. Then there is a major problem. Security in any system is only as good as the weakest link. Everyone needs to have a firewall and anti-virus software on their computer. The financial institutions pay a lot of money to protect their assets, but they are sometimes breached. Limits are a good way to protect your personal assets. Doesn't hit you as hard in the pocket book.

Be very careful of any HTML email that you receive. Financial institutions do not conduct business via email. If you get such an email, call you financial institution immediately.

Always look at the URL line when you access your account and make sure it starts with HTTPS:// as this is a typically a secure link, although it can be set up as bogus, most institutions have certificates for security that your browser will recognize. If you get a request to accept a security certificate, be very careful in your decision.

There is much, much more to security than this little blurb. Do research on the Internet. Do a search on : How To Protect Your Computers : or : How To Protect Online Banking.

Or any other combination of words. The amount of information is mind boggling.

The biggest threat is the disgruntled employee at the financial institution that sells the information - for whatever their reasons are. There is nothing you can do about that, nothing at all.