Millions of netizens do their banking online each day; chances are you're one of them. Unfortunately there are risks associated with banking over the internet. Criminals are constantly looking for their next victim, often establishing elaborate schemes to gain access to their victim's personal information and financial accounts. Not much has changed in recent years as far as the actual processes involved in gaining entry to bank accounts via the internet. You log in through a secure login server using your username and password, and that's pretty much all it takes on your part. On the other end, banks have done more and more to ensure that your connection to their systems and consequently your transactions, are secure, but the improvements haven't been significant. That's all about to change.
Most overseas banks have already introduced secondary authentication methods such as "smart cards" or electronic tokens that display a randomly changing series of pass codes. But in the conservative spending banking industry of the U.S. consumers aren't likely to find such benefits. Instead, banks based in the U.S. tend to focus on improving security to their web servers and login systems. Corrilian Corporation is a web-banking service company that provides the banking industry with login analysis software.
According to Corrilian chief security executive Jim Mahoney, the company is developing the next generation of software to aide the banking industry in it's fight to protect your information and your accounts. Software that could for example, verify when you log in that you are logging in from where you normally log in and not from an internet address halfway around the world, or that you are logging in from your usual dialup-internet connection and not a broadband connection. Why are you logging in at 3am when historically you've never logged in later than 11pm. Checks and balances that individually aren't meant to provide concrete proof of foul play, but when combined together, can provide your bank with red flags that may go off in time to protect your account from unauthorized access.
News source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
