Keep Track of Your Digits
If they've already got your numbers, now they might have to take a finger too. Federal regulators in the US will require bank websites to adopt "two-factor" authentication by the end of 2006:
In two-factor authentication, customers must confirm their identities not only through something they know, like a PIN or password, but also with something they physically have, like a hardware token with numeric access codes that change every minute.
Llloyds TSB in the UK is currently piloting a system where in order to log in to the site, the customers will need to enter a 6-digit code generated by the token, in addition to their username and password. For certain transactions, such as bill payments, they will have to enter another code.
How much money is being lost to "phishing"? Apparently, last year UK banks lost only £12m to Internet banking related fraud, compared to £500m in credit card fraud. Back in 2003, the annual amount lost to online banking fraud in Europe pales in comparison to the combined budgets banks devoted to prevention.
According to the FBI 2004 Internet Fraud Report, the number of complaints in 2004 was around 30 per 100,000 population. More and more banks outsource their tech support. Is "phishing" more dangerous than "offshoring"? How secure is your personal information once it leaves the US? In 2003, a woman in Pakistan doing cut-rate clerical work for a US-based medical center threatened to post patients' confidential files on the Internet.