The Dangers of Web-Banking

I have never understood the willingness of many to handle many of their financial transactions online. Everything from banking to paying bills was possible but, with the exception of occasional online shopping, it didn’t interest me. Why solicit trouble?, I thought. This story shows my concerns were well-founded:

"Bank customers know to shield their ATM passwords from prying eyes. But with the rise of online banking, computer users may not realize electronic snoops might be peeking over their shoulder every time they type.

"In a twist on online fraud, hackers and identity thieves are infecting computers with increasingly sophisticated programs that record bank passwords and other key financial data and send them to crooks over the Internet.

"That’s what happened to Tim Brown, who had account information swiped out of the PC at his Simi Valley store.

"’It’s scary they could see my keystrokes,’ said Brown, owner of Kingdom Sewing & Vacuum. ‘It freaks me out.’"

GET THE STORY.

Freaks me out, too.

10 thoughts on “The Dangers of Web-Banking”

  1. Hackers can get at your banking in many ways these days. Where I live (Boston area) there have been incidents of Russian-mafia type folks stealing peoples’ ATM passwords with electronic devices while customers use the ATM! You don’t need to be online to place yourself at risk.

  3. It’s much easier to have your credit card number stolen by a waiter or waitress at a restaurant after you hand it to them to pay for dinner. A woman here in Cleveland was just recently arrested for this very thing.
    If you don’t want to worry about spyware (or any other virus for that matter), get a Mac. 🙂

  4. “That’s what happened to Tim Brown, who had account information swiped out of the PC at his Simi Valley store.”
    Well, see, there’s the problem right there.
    🙂

  5. I think that if you’re not doing everything you can to secure your computer, and you know it, this fear is warranted.
    However, the basics are really not that hard. A firewall is where you start. Preferably both a hardware one (a router) and a software one (some debate whether you need a software firewall one if you have a hardware firewall; I won’t go into that.)
    Keep virus definitions updated–allow AV software to check for updates daily. Keep your adware/spyware programs updated daily, and keep them in a mode that continually protects in real time, rather than just using it once a week to clean what you already potentially caught (Adaware can do this). Use a hosts file to keep your computer from even being able to connect to a whole host of known dodgy IP addresses. (See http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm — it’s easier than it looks; the list updates pretty often). Use a safer browser and keep it updated with its corresponding security patches. (This goes for Linux and Mac users as well). Keep your office programs updated; there are dodgy macros that can getcha even if you’re using a Mac or Linux–they may not be able to hose your computer, or even your user account, but some may be devised which steal or hose certain information). Learn how to identify phishing mails. In addition to that, if you get a link from your bank notifying you of something, don’t click on it even if you think it’s legitimate. Instead, open your browser and type your bank’s URL and then go to the section on their site where you know that they send you messages.
    If you’re doing all of this, the chances of getting scammed because of the state of your personal computer are so negligible, it’s really not worth inconveniencing yourself by giving up online banking. If you think these procedures to protect yourself are incovenient in themselves, then I offer that they are pretty much a matter of setting up something once, and then just letting it go, automated. The set up can be a pain if you’re low on time, but it’s really not the full-time job people think it is.
    I’m a Linux user but even I understand that there are some things I should do on my end to keep nasty scripts from getting to me, just as Mac users should be aware of. For instance, even Firefox and the zlib libraries lately have had security holes. The thing to do is simply patch them. Linux and Windows, and I’ll assume Macs too, can be set to notify you when there’s a crucial security patch available–and even download and install them automatically.
    I keep my husband’s Windows PC maintained, and I’m confident that if we run into problems, it’ll be the bank’s fault, not ours. If the bank itself has a security problem, then that’s going to affect people whether they are using online banking or not.
    Educating one’s self seems to be the key.
    P.S. And yes, do try out Linux! SuSE or Ubuntu should guide you gracefully through the transition. Some geeks install Linux on their older relative’s computers and find that their computers are so much easier to maintain, than people’s who have Windows, because they’re so less apt to run into problems, and because the programs, as non-geeks see them, are practically identical in appearance and function. If you use your computer for practical reasons, definitely consider switching to Linux, even if it’s just for a while. For the hesitant, you can install it in your free space alongside Windows, so you can still use Windows when you want to. (That’s called dual-booting). Sometimes finances prevent someone from buying a Mac, but Linux is an awesome free option, and the operating systems are actually very similar these days (Mac now being based on FreeBSD, a type of Unix).

  6. Having to trouble shoot peoples computers a lot myself (something all geeks have to deal with) I’ve noticed that there is a direct correlation between downloading junk (especially stuff that’s only played with for a while then deleted) and viruses.
    I didn’t have any protection on my computer at home (before I broke the OS 🙂 and never got a virus. Of course, I only had dialup. If I had broad band, I’d probably have installed a firewall, but that would be all I’d need.
    Just don’t download stuff. Do you really need to install a dancing hampster or ‘all your base’ screen saver that you’re going to use (read: annoy other people with) for about 2 weeks and then remove it?
    I’ve made an interesting discovery in the past as well. This seems obvious, but I’ve noticed that people who are fond the less than moral aspects of content found on the internet (not just porn) seem to have more problems with their systems than people who don’t.
    And in response to Karen’s Linux pushing..Go DOS. 🙂

  8. This is why I have multiple “Malware” detecting programs on my PC.
    A-Squared has a free version that you can run manually to catch such things. (http://www.emsisoft.com/en/)
    AVG Anti-Virus – http://www.grisoft.com/doc/1
    Spybot Search & Destroy – http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
    Microsoft Anti Spyware – http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=321cd7a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&displaylang=en
    And Ad-Aware SE Personal – http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
    I update these weekly and run them often to keep my system clean.
    Oh and I am careful about checking out email attachments of course.

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