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2 June 2006
Internet banking customers are still continuing to do their banking at Internet cafes, despite repeated warnings of the risks associated with this.
Herman Singh, Director Technology Engineering at Standard Bank said monitoring by Standard Bank showed that several customers from various local banks had compromised their banking details by doing their banking at Internet cafes during the past few days.
He stressed that prompt action by Standard Bank had ensured that no Standard Bank customer had lost any money.
Singh assured customers that Internet banking is completely safe as long as they do their banking from secure computers.
Singh said the speed with which Standard Bank had acted in the latest attack ensured that its customers who had compromised their banking details did not lose any money.
"Once it became clear how the syndicate operated, we acted very quickly to close it down. We would like to thank the law enforcement authorities for their co-operation."
He said of the estimated 60 who had compromised their banking credentials, 60% were customers of other banks, 20% were customers of foreign banks and the remaining 20% were Standard Bank customers.
Standard Bank investigations and actions have resulted in none of its customers suffering any loss.
"When we became aware of what the syndicate was doing, we immediately contacted the other banks to inform them to what was happening," said Singh.
One suspect has been arrested and several others are being questioned by the police. Computer spyware was found attached to 13 public computers in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, Pretoria, Cape Town and Johannesburg International Airport. Spyware is used to capture Internet banking customers’ banking credentials. Investigations are continuing
Singh assured customers that Internet banking was safe, especially when using a computer that had all the necessary security features such as anti virus software and security firewalls.
He warned customers to avoid doing their Internet banking at Internet cafes and other public places that offer Internet services. "The risk is just too great and there is little that banks can do to protect their customers in these types of environments."
As an additional security precaution to protect its customers against malicious attacks, Standard Bank has just renewed its contract with McAfee to offer its customers free anti virus software and personal firewall. This is the fourth successive year that the bank is offering McAfee to its customers.
Read more about this issue.
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