Online banking customers of Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, a Uk-based personal financial services company, and Halifax, a UK-based online banking services provider, are at risk of fraud due to loopholes in their security systems – reported Dailymail.co.uk.
The news follows a 132% increase in online banking fraud against UK consumers in 2008 to a total of GBP52.5 million. A spokesman of APACS, a banking industry payments body, said: Online banking customers are increasingly being targeted by malware attacks, which is why the industry continues to remind customers that they have their computer’s firewall switched on and anti-virus software installed and kept up to date.
It has been reported that research by Which? Computing has found that both the banks have one of the least secure log-in procedures and are vulnerable to keylogger virus (a virus that sits on a computer and tracks every keystroke with the aim of collecting passwords). In contrast, Barclays and Lloyds makes customers to use drop-down menus, where they have to click on icons rather than the keyboard.
Sarah Kidner, editor at Which? Computing, said: There are surprisingly big differences between big banks’ visible online security systems. Some simple measures, like the use of drop-down menus, could improve safety considerably. The banks may say it’s the hidden security measures that count, but to have real confidence in an online account, customers need to see security in place, reported the newspaper.
However, both the banks had said that they have additional security measures deployed and give priority to the security of customers’ accounts.
