Slashdot Mirror
Can Ubuntu Save Online Banking?
CWmike writes with a pointer to this ComputerWorld mention of an interesting application of Live CDs, courtesy of Florida-based regional bank CNL: "Recognizing that most consumers don't want to buy a separate computer for online banking, CNL is seriously considering making available free Ubuntu bootable 'live CD' discs in its branches and by mail. The discs would boot up Linux, run Firefox and be configured to go directly to CNL's Web site. 'Everything you need to do will be sandboxed within that CD,' [CNL CIO Jay McLaughlin] says. That should protect customers from increasingly common drive-by downloads and other vectors for malicious code that may infect and lurk on PCs, waiting to steal the user account names, passwords and challenge questions normally required to access online banking." (But what if someone slips in a stack of doctored disks?)
Well, yah know what? Convenience isn't a right. There is no constitutional amendment, clause, or condition guaranteeing you convenience. Convenience is earned. You earn convenience by being diligent. Are you interested enough in your own self-preservation to bother browsing the web in a secure way? Then you get convenience. Are you the other 80% who insist on throwing yourself off a cliff and expecting others to plunge to their possible death just to save you? Then you don't get convenience. You get a rubber suit and a leash.
No. Pick Debian.