Forum Home
PC World Chat
 
Thread ID: 90953 2008-06-21 06:14:00 How safe is your Internet Banking? johcar (6283) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
680812 2008-06-21 06:14:00 I have been accessing my ANZ Internet Banking site with Opera 9 . 27 (and earlier versions), without any issues for a substantial length of time .

When I tried with Opera 9 . 5, I got logged out before I even got into my account information .

So I sent a SecureMail (part of the ANZ internet banking experience) requesting clarification (no problem with Firefox 3 . 0!!) . They responded by pointing me to a link on their site that states their list of compatible browsers are:

Internet Explorer® 6 . 0 (preferred)
Internet Explorer® 5 . 5
Netscape® 7 . 0
Firefox® 1 . 0

Naturally, I was horrified that a bank I trust with my cash (overdraft, actually!! :D) is so out of touch, especially given the publicity in recent months around bank's expectations of their customers' security!!!

So I looked at other bank sites:

ASB:
Internet Explorer browser version 5 . 01 or later

NBNZ:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4 . 0 or higher or Netscape Navigator/Communicater 4 . 06 or higher

Kiwibank:
Internet Explorer 6 . 0+, or
Mozilla Firefox 2 . 0+
"Although we don't fully support them, we have tried Internet banking with Opera and Safari with satisfactory results . "

TSB Bank:
Minimum Internet Explorer Version 5

Now I know banks are conservative by nature, but I would have thought they would grasp security enhancements provided by more recent iterations of popular browsers with both hands and force their customers to use the most secure version of the browser of the customers' choice!!

Now I'm sure there won't be too many PF1ers running horrendously outdated browser versions (they're far too savvy for that), but it is a concern that banks still seem to allow customers to connect to their systems with potentially insecure browsers .

Thoughts??
johcar (6283)
680813 2008-06-21 06:28:00 I think it would be hard to implement the website that disallows a browser that runs an older version to access the website.

Although I could be wrong...

I had tsb internet banking.pretty rubbish.
Ninjabear (2948)
680814 2008-06-21 06:33:00 Not hard at all.. Just check the browser's user-agent ID - and if it's an old browser you don't want to have access - then redirect to a different page that just says update your browser..

I use BNZ and Westpac, BNZ seem good especially with their netguard card idea.

Westpac say this about browsers:


To use Online Banking, is there a minimum requirement for my Web browser?

To access Online Banking, you will need to use a 128-bit compatible internet browser.
We support the following browsers:

PC users:

Microsoft® Internet Explorer 5.5 sp2 and above
Firefox 1.0 and higher
Netscape Navigator 7 and higher

MAC users:

Safari 1.3 and higher

If you don’t have one of these supported browser versions, you can download them for free from the Internet – Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox or Safari. You will need to choose the correct 128-bit strong encryption version for your operating platform – Windows 2000/XP, Mac etc.

Note: If you use an unsupported browser for your Online Banking, and experience any problems, we may not be able to offer you any technical assistance.
Agent_24 (57)
680815 2008-06-21 06:35:00 I think it would be hard to implement the website that disallows a browser that runs an older version to access the website.


the point is not to disallow older versions but to ALLOW newer versions.....

I use westpac and my wife uses national bank we've had no probs with FF2 or IE7 (not that I use that)
drcspy (146)
680816 2008-06-21 06:37:00 to clarify wht I said..........as far as the bank is concerned it's no skin off their nose if you want to compromise your security by using an older verison of a browser (well I guess)..... drcspy (146)
680817 2008-06-21 06:41:00 If you have a 2-factor authentication dongle, I think the browser you use it on is irrelevant - 2 factor is much MUCH more secure than the username-password system used by most banks.

And much more secure than any browser can ever be. :2cents:
jwil1 (65)
680818 2008-06-21 07:06:00 Hope the banking system gets a wake up call like the music/film distribution rip off systems have. zqwerty (97)
680819 2008-06-21 08:14:00 I use ASB online with Firefox (recently updated to 3.0) and have no issues at all. I am also smart enough (touch wood) not to get sucked in by phishing emails. I do however agree 100% with your comments. I understand a lot of banks including the ASB to be total Microsoft shops regarding software. vitalstatistix (9182)
680820 2008-06-21 08:39:00 I have been using opera 9.5 for the past few days with ASB internet banking.Haven't had any problems so far Ninjabear (2948)
680821 2008-06-21 09:12:00 Firefox 3 with ANZ and no issues. Sweep (90)
1 2 3