New Zealand Banks Demand a Peek at User PCs

Montgomery Burns III writes with a link to a ComputerWorld article on a ... unique approach to bank security. New Zealand financial institutions are looking for a way to access customer PCs used in online banking transactions. Their goal is to verify the security of the user's terminal. "Under the terms of a new banking Code of Practice, banks may request access in the event of a disputed transaction to see if security protection in is place and up to date. Liability for any loss resulting from unauthorized Internet banking transactions rests with the customer if they have 'used a computer or device that does not have appropriate protective software and operating system installed and up to date, [or] failed to take reasonable steps to ensure that the protective systems, such as virus scanning, firewall, antispyware, operating system and antispam software on [the] computer, are uptodate.'"

Comments

Don't overlook the snark

[Timtimes]

I think you're spot on with your observation. Might I point to the submission in total for a moment though? I expect a slashdot audience to get the sarcasm, if not earlier in the piece, then certainly where I juxtapose the AT&T rant with the need to rush out and get an Iphone. The only Iphone provider in the US is AT&T. I believe that phone will be so hot that if AT&T required both a technical and BIOLOGICAL probe as a requirement for purchase there would still be no dearth of customers. Matter of fact, by the end of the first week, the only thing you'd be hearing in the mainstream media was how good a thing the probing really was. A colonic for both man and machine. Enjoy.