Despite the old saying that there's no such thing as bad publicity, online banking credibility took a hit today courtesy of The New York Times, page one. In the second-most-emailed article of the day, the story chronicles the threat from keyloggers around the globe. In the fourth paragraph, the article tells of a Brazilian scheme, dismantled two weeks ago, that netted $4.7 million from 200 accounts at six banks. A separate keylogging incident in France is also said to have netted $1.1 million.
Action items
While there isn't a whole lot you can do about keylogging, you should take these steps to help keep the problem in perspective:
- Remind customer service staff that customer accounts are protected by numerous technology safeguards, policies limiting consumer liability, and internal controls that make withdrawing money online quite difficult.
- Encourage customers to use triggered alerts so they know within minutes when a large withdrawal occurs.
- Educate customers on the benefits of safe computing, including links to resources, downloads, and so forth.
- Mitigate customer concern with plain-language guarantees that eliminate any customer liability for fraud perpetrated against their accounts. For a great example, see E*Trade's Compete Protection Guarantee (NB Jan 18).
For more information, read recent security articles from NetBanker or Online Banking Report (# 96/97).
—JB