Responding to a new wave of cyber-crime, the American Bankers Association (ABA) recently made a gutsy but overdue recommendation to small and medium-sized businesses: stop using your regular computers for online banking.
That’s right, stop using your regular computer for online banking. Instead, the ABA recommends the use of a separate, dedicated computer for online banking, one that is never used to access email, instant messaging or browse the Internet. I’ll go a step further and say this advice should not apply only to small businesses; everyone should heed this advice.
These recommendations are not an indictment of online banking, because, generally speaking, online banking is safe. Instead, the advice is an indictment of the unsafe computers that people use for online banking, because, to be blunt, most folks don’t know doodly-squat about maintaining an Internet-safe computer. The viruses, spyware, Trojans and identity-stealing keyloggers that people unknowingly allow to infect and control their computers are what make online banking a dangerous activity, not necessarily online banking itself.
Recognizing this sad state of affairs, the ABA has taken the only logical course left to it. Since too many people seem incapable of being safe on the Internet, the next best thing is to make it nearly impossible for them to use an unsafe computer. If all your computer ever does is online banking, and is never allowed to access email, do instant messaging or visit other websites, then the chances of it being infected with money-stealing viruses are reduced dramatically. It’s sort of like avoiding traffic accidents by building a private road between your house and the grocery store. If yours is the only car on the road, then no one else can hit you.
Of course, people will whine, moan and complain about the huge burden and hassle of spending $3-400 for a cheap computer to dedicate to online banking. Many people will whine about it while they are sitting in their $2,000 La-Z-Boy recliner playing on their $500 Xbox gaming system that is connected to their $6,000 55” LED TV/home theatre setup. Oh, boo-hoo. Stop, you’re breaking my heart. Play it in G, Paganini. I should have brought my violin; we could have played a duet.
Consider the following comments made by The Mick, a member of the USA Today website, after his sister’s computer was infected with an identity-stealing virus:
“My sister recently found that two credit card accounts of hers had been hacked – the address had been changed on one, the other had simply been accessed. She caught it in time but had to go through the trouble of changing all her bank, debit card, credit card, etc. account numbers and changing the numbers on automatic payments for gas and electricity, phone, etc. Not to mention making a thorough cleaning of her computer.”
How much is it worth to avoid that type of fiasco? $300? $400? And finally, the comments of Ray Dickenson:
“The main thing online banking users must do is discriminate between casual Internet use (YouTube, Facebook, news reading, game playing) and serious Internet use (banking, trading stocks, paying bills, filing taxes).” He goes on to condone keeping one computer for casual use and another for serious use.
I heartily concur. You have been warned.