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| Thread ID: 41934 | 2004-01-27 00:35:00 | Email security | tbacon_nz (865) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 210254 | 2004-01-27 00:35:00 | My sister recently was reluctant to entrust her bank account details to an unencrypted email. This was my response: I sort of understand your reluctance to divulge bank account details over the net, but I think in fact you are worrying about a hugely small chance of trouble. For someone to maliciously obtain that info, they have got to be (a) monitoring ALL emails going through your ISP, which in the case of AOL must be an enormous number, (b) have software sophisticated enough to be able to recognise a bank account number and (c) have hardware/software powerful enough to be able to do all this effectively in real time to keep ahead of the traffic. And once they have got the number, they have then got use use it - how? Forging cheques when they have no ideas what your signature looks like? Using the number in some sort of automated system that is almost certainly protected by at least your PIN and probably other security as well? I would suggest that the effort is not worth the possible reward. Doing it for a specific target person/organisation is a different matter (but still pretty complex), but for a random one is not very likely at all, in my opinion. It is also different if you are actually supplying that data to a website, as it is much easier (if the security is lax) to trawl for information there - but even so the felon has still got to be able to use it. What do people think of that analysis? FWIW I think the same applies to credit card details (not on websites, just email). |
tbacon_nz (865) | ||
| 210255 | 2004-01-27 00:44:00 | Agree re bank account numbers Many businesses display their bank account number on every invoice, for payment to be made. They are available on websites as well. There can be no security on a printed document, and in comparison an e-mail looks much more secure. The bank account number is but one very small part of any fraud as you have pointed out. Its the PIN thats the attractive bit for fraudsters. |
godfather (25) | ||
| 210256 | 2004-01-27 00:48:00 | It's not particularly relevant how likely, or unlikely, it is that the data can be intercepted/used. Any bank who knew that you had sent bank account details in an unencrypted email (strictly against the conditions of all banks), would very quickly walk away from covering any losses that may ensue. I guess it's up to you how real you think the risk is..... :D Cheers Miami |
Miami Steve (2128) | ||
| 210257 | 2004-01-27 01:05:00 | I just had a look at the BNZ (my bank) standard terms and conditions on their website and they make no mention of keeping bank account details secure. The only security provisions they require are all to do with PINs and passwords. As Godfather says, bank account numbers appear on printed forms all the time, and I would have thought that email was at least as secure as that. |
tbacon_nz (865) | ||
| 210258 | 2004-01-27 01:15:00 | That sounds very good to me. And, as you say, the BNZ terms say nothing about the bank a/c no. I mean, they post out cheque books by the thousand all with plenty of bank a/c no.s on them! | linw (53) | ||
| 210259 | 2004-01-27 01:16:00 | I apologise if I misunderstood what you meant by bank details :8} With bank account numbers, yes you are probably right. Cheers Miami |
Miami Steve (2128) | ||
| 210260 | 2004-01-27 02:05:00 | The context was sending a bank account number to someone so they could deposit money in the account. | tbacon_nz (865) | ||
| 210261 | 2004-01-27 02:07:00 | In that case, you can send them mine..... :D :D :D |
Miami Steve (2128) | ||
| 210262 | 2004-01-27 03:00:00 | You should be so lucky. | tbacon_nz (865) | ||
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