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One-Time Pads To Protect Electronic Bank Access

dummkopf writes "CNN reports how Scandinavian banks issue one-time passwords to protect customers' accounts when these use the same password for other, i.e., more insecure email accounts. Having a bank account in the U.S. (with a trusted and well known Bank OF nAtional reach) I always wondered why the security was soooo poor: while it has changed slightly now (better usernames/passwords) it used to be the case that your username was your SSN and your password a number code (!). I am sure most of you will agree with me that this is scary... I live now in Switzerland where one-time passwords for online banking are a must and where my current bank is one of the 'crappy' ones with a little card with one-time passwords like mentioned in the CNN Story. The nicer ones even give you credit-card-size RSA password generator which is combined with a calculator you can keep in your pocket. Hence my question: are others also worried about poor security of online banking in the U.S.? Are there banks which are better than the ones mentioned above?"

4 of 345 comments (clear)

  1. My eyes are bleeding. by CGP314 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I always wondered why the security was soooo poor: while it has changed slightly now (better usernames/passwords) it used to be the case that your username was your SSN and your password a number code (!). I am sure most of you will agree with me that this is scary...The nicer ones even give you credit-card-size RSA password generator which is combined with a calculator you can keep in your pocket. Hence my question: are others also worried about poor security of online banking in the U.S.? Are there banks which are better than the ones mentioned above?"

    Seriously, what is up with your punctuation? We have a colon where there should be a period, an exclamation mark (in parentheses) followed by a period, an ellipse that touches the first word in the next sentence, and conclude with a quotation mark that doesn't have a partner. You also seem unable to decide on one space or two between sentences.

    I try not to be a grammar nazi because I know that I often get it wrong in my own writing, but this was so tremendously obvious and distracting I couldn't read the article.


    -Colin

  2. In Related News... by k4_pacific · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Bill Gates announced today that he is broke. He said he had plenty of money a week ago, but it is apparently all gone now.

    --
    Unknown host pong.
  3. Re:Nothing New. by stratjakt · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    It's more than worthy of the franchise, IMO. I was worried it would wind up all craptastic like Deus Ex IW did, but they pulled it off.

    Gameplay is the same as ever, enemy AI is much improved though, and there's a lot more chatter by the NPCs.

    The complaints I'm hearing are about textures not being detailed enough - complaints from folks who spent 1000 bucks on a video card and dont understand why developers dont target them specifically. The lighting effects are great (bloom rocks) and overall the game pushes my 9800 pro to its limit running at 1024x768.

    My only small gripe is the "load zones" in the game - blue foggy stargate-looking areas that you walk into and it loads the next part of the stage. My PC could no doubt handle the whole map, so it's probably an artifact of the XBox port. It's not that bad though, you spend like a half an hour in one area before you reach a "load zone" so it's not a constant nuisance, and the levels are otherwise extremely well designed and layed out.

    Sounds great, even though I'm just using the digital out on an old SBLive card to some dolby 5.1 speakers. Its the kind of game that makes me want to drop 300 bucks on a new card and speakers to hear the footsteps more accurately.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
  4. Re:Bank of America by juan2074 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    ... but if anyone else uses Bank Of America, I would suggest a call to them.

    If anyone else uses Bank of America, I would suggest looking for another bank, or better yet, a credit union.

    B of A charges fees for anything it can. If this article is to be believed, B of A is the fifth most-profitable company in the world. That profit comes from all the money B of A extracts from its customers.