Independent Blog

Online Bank Security: A Customer's Perspective

info@metrisoft.net — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:55:00 GMT

I like the various benefits of banking online with Wells Fargo. I can view my account balances, transfer money between my business and personal account, pay bills, and even open new accounts without actually going to the bank. I also like their login/verification system; it's very simple yet appears to be very secure.

My credit card company, on the other hand, is not so great. I think they have taken online security too far. Basically, whenever I try to log in from a different machine (from work, for example) I have to verify that machine through an elaborate verification process before I can access my account, even if I enter a correct username and password! This extra level of security just isn't necessary, in my opinion. If only all online banking were as good as Wells Fargo....

Please share your experiences (positive and negative) with online banking, and specifically bank security.

Bank Crime Statistics for 2007

info@metrisoft.net — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:05:00 GMT

Here are some highlights (or lowlights :)) from the FBI report for the third quarter 2007:

Commercial banks represent 89 percent of 1,542 robberies, 87 percent of the 30 burglaries and 100 percent of the banks suffering from larceny.
Almost $20 million cash was stolen and $2 million was recovered.
93 percent of perpetrators are men, and of those, 44 percent are White, 50 percent are Black.
41 percent of robberies take place on a Monday or a Friday.
The branch office is more likely to be robbed than the main office.
40 percent of the crimes had surveillance cameras being used, while less than 2 percent had guards on duty. Dye packs/tear gas was used during 5 percent of these robberies.
Firearms were used 400 times, threatened 597 times and explosives were either useded or threatened 47 times.
Only three deaths were recorded and each was a perpetrator.
15 employees were injured as well as 8 customers.
10 employees were taken hostage while six customers were as well as one family member.

More information is available on the FBI report, here.

Internet Banking Fraud Statistics

info@metrisoft.net — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:20:00 GMT

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) has published its "2007 Internet Crime Report." IC3 is a joint operation between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center.

The 2007 report reflects a $40 million increase in reported losses from 2006 to 2007. Those 2007 losses amounted to $240 million with internet auction fraud comprising of 35.7 percent of the losses. Merchandise that was never delivered amounted to nearly 25 percent of the complaints and this was up 31 percent from 2006.

Financial fraud - credit and debit card, checks and computer fraud complaints totaled nearly 18 percent of the 2007 complaints received by IC3.

Here are some stats from the report:

Top 10 Cybercrime States:
California 15.8%
Florida 10.1%
New York 9.9%
Texas 7.0%
Illinois 3.6%
Pennsylvania 3.5%
Georgia 3.1%
Ohio 2.8%
Washington 2.8%
New Jersey 2.8%

Men complained of greater losses than women, losing $1.67 to each $1.00 lost by a woman.

Four hot areas for losses included scams on pets, checks, spam, and online dating sites.

A complete copy of the report is available from IC3, here.

What does this tell you about the importance of bank security on the internet? Post your comments to the CommunityBankSecurity.com blog!