Why Are You Still Not Banking Online?

When it comes to helping entrepreneurs compete, I try to eat my own cooking. All the tips and strategies I share in this column I aim to apply at my 10-person technology consultancy. But I have to come clean: I'm woefully negligent in one crucial area--and it's costing me.

I'm talking about online banking. Embarrassing as it sounds, I don't do it. Nor, as it turns out, do roughly 95% of my 500 clients. Why? Sheer laziness, I suppose.

Cindy Hom, on the other hand, is anything but lazy. She runs a 10-person fitness and wellness center in downtown San Francisco called Apex Wellness. She teaches people how to take care of their bodies, eat right and live fully through Pilates, Yoga and Martial Arts. And when it comes to banking, Cindy does it quicker and better than most because she bothered to figure out how to do everything online.

Currently there are 24 million Germans which carry out their banking operations over the internet

One of the reasons for the increasing popularity of online banking is the possibility to carry out financial transactions around the clock as well as smaller fees required by online banks.

Germany with its 38% of online users ranks 9th among EU member states. The European average percentage is 29%. Leading in this respect is Finland where 72% of the population use online banking followed by the Netherlands (69%) and Sweden (65%). Estonia and Latvia rank 5th and 8th respectively.

With the introduction of an electronic passport which is planned for autumn 2010 online banking in Germany could become significantly more widespread given that the new passport could be issued with a digital signature which would make internet use more secure. This signature could be used on many other occasions as well.

Time for an online banking security revolution

Here we are in 2009, buffeted by economic turmoil, under siege by organised online criminals, and seeing a mega “boom” in only one true sector: the underground economy.

Although today’s Internet security packages are better, faster and lower impact than ever, most still fail miserably when it comes to some very important topics: secure online authentication (especially when doing online banking), protection against unknown types of malware, and protection against rootkits.

So bad has the online crime problem become that criminals are enjoying what the rest of the world is not: a massive and lucrative boom, making the bust the rest of us are experiencing an even worse proposition.

Security experts warn of online banking Trojan

Security experts warn of a new type of malware which targets online banking users. The Trojan in question, which is responsible for a series of attacks carried out by cybercriminals in Denmark two years ago, has been detected in the US, despite not yet attacking any specific banking sites.

The virus, known as Bankpatch, injects code into Windows system files and monitors whenever users access a banking site using Internet Explorer, then downloads a series of customized plug-ins designed to and intercept internet banking traffic by targeting particular online banking systems.

Representatives of security and information management software company Symantec, which issued the warning, also claim that cybercriminals manipulating the Trojan could potentially customize an attack specific to a particular bank and transfer money from online customer accounts without being noticed.

Mobile Banking Finds New Users

You may not want to learn how much smaller your bank account has gotten. But banks are making it easier than ever for consumers to access account information on their mobile devices.

Big banks are offering new services or improving existing ones that allow people to access their accounts while on the go. In January, Bank of America Corp. launched an updated software application that allows consumers to check their balances and pay bills through Apple Inc.'s iPhone. Wells Fargo & Co. has begun promoting a service that lets business clients approve wire transfers through their cellphones. And mobile banking is at the center of a major new ad campaign from Chase, a division of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co, which is offering a service that lets customers check their balances and get other information via text messages.