Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: How Safe, Really, Is Paying For Things Online?
An anonymous reader writes:
Due to the rash of intrusions into electronic payment systems lately, I've decided to go back to paying cash for everyday purchases, groceries, fuel, and anything else I pay for in person (which also has the positive effect of making balacing my checkbook every month that much easier). The question I have is: For the monthly bills it's just not practical to pay in person (utilities, for instance), how safe are those?
Five minutes of research is telling me that mailing paper checks isn't any more secure than online electronic payments and in fact may be even less secure, but short of literally showing up at the electric company, phone company, ISP, and so on, and paying them cash in person, I can't see any other way to pay them. So how safe is it right now, honestly?
I'm always interested in how Slashdot readers secure their own personal finances -- but how high is the danger that a remote malefactor will hijack and then drain your bank account? Leave your best answers in the comments. How safe, really, is paying for things online?
Five minutes of research is telling me that mailing paper checks isn't any more secure than online electronic payments and in fact may be even less secure, but short of literally showing up at the electric company, phone company, ISP, and so on, and paying them cash in person, I can't see any other way to pay them. So how safe is it right now, honestly?
I'm always interested in how Slashdot readers secure their own personal finances -- but how high is the danger that a remote malefactor will hijack and then drain your bank account? Leave your best answers in the comments. How safe, really, is paying for things online?
"Is It Safe?" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Well, how safe is it to be walking around with a pocket full of cash? What if you get robbed? What if you drop your wallet? What if you go to the bank machine and it dispenses too few bills, but thinks it dispensed them all? What if you go to a teller to withdraw cash and watch them count it, but the bank gets robbed?
At least with credit card payments, there's a known and tested dispute process in place.
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I have several checking accounts, and I got tired of paying the check printing companies for... printing my checks. So I bought check stock cheap and I print my own. Apparently, the world has gone from magnetic ink to OCR, so I am home free. If I can print my own checks, so can anyone else print anything they want. I could easily print checks from any other business once I have their account number.
What reduces check fraud is enforcement. Or so I think.
A dingo ate my sig...
3. Cash for in-person transactions.
Unfortunately, I find that this is steadily becoming more of a hassle. I tried to pay for something with cash at Best Buy recently, and the poor young teller looked at me like I had just asked her what color her underwear was. Instead, I had to go to customer service to pay with cash like some kind of paleontology museum escapee... which was fine with me because the girl working at customer service was downright gorgeous. But next time when Bill the balding floor manager is on shift, then it's going to be an inconvenience.
The only thing I do online with my actual bank accounts is pay off my credit cards and my mortgage
How dare you! If everyone was doing like you, the credit card companies would make no money and we would still have to pay things with cash and debit cards, paying obscene transaction fees every time.
People who pay their credit card on time are the modern equivalent of the tragedy of the commons. Start carrying your weight today! Just pay the minimum and slowly build a mountain of debt. That's the American way.
lucm, indeed.
Walking around with cash is statistically more dangerous than using credit cards for everything, in the same way that the most dangerous part of a flight is the drive to the airport.
You only need to use electronic payments, such as a credit card, not necessarily online. Many thefts used compromised readers during a regular in person transaction, though newer cards make this less likely. Ultimately your retailer will typically store your payment information in a database, along with other personally identifying information. This is even more likely with over the phone purchases. Many companies store it in plain text while few properly hash/encrypt it.
The above isn't actually all that true; PCI requirements demand encryption at rest (encryption, not hashing, there's no point in hashing a credit card number). But let's assume that it's true.
Meh. I don't care.
By federal law, my liability for any fraud is limited to $50. In practice, no credit card issuer I've ever met in the US (and I used to do security consulting for credit card issuers, so I've met a lot of them) charges cardholders a penny. If you claim that a transaction is fraudulent, and they can't prove it wasn't, you won't pay a penny. If they're pretty sure you're the fraudster, they'll just cancel your card, and refuse to do business with you any more.
Credit card payment is the safest form of payment, online or in meatspace. Cash is the least safe form of payment.
Note that I'm talking about safety, not privacy. That's a separate issue, and on the privacy axis cash is king and credit cards are awful (though personal checks are significantly worse, assuming you can find someone still willing to accept one).
Note also that debit card transactions (when processed through the debit networks, not as credit cards) do not provide the same protections that credit cards do. Many banks do handle fraud similarly, but you need to get your bank's policy to know. With credit cards, the $50 liability limit is guaranteed by law.
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Heck even the police will take it from you if you have enough of it
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You can just use your nice high-def camera on your phone to capture someone's Apple Pay screen, say while you're behind them in line and they're getting ready to pay. Free access to ApplePay account with just a picture, no hacking required.
Without that person's specific hardware device (e.g. the iPhone whose screen you photographed), you're not going to be able to use that data you just captured.
#DeleteChrome