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I've never even been slightly tempted to use any PC other than my own for the purposes of accessing my diminutive bank balance.

I mean -- would you hand your EFTPOS card to a total stranger and trust him not to run away with it once you'd also told him the PIN number so that he could help you withdraw some cash from an ATM?

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I find it interesting that this story has come out just a few days after a US report indicating that 14 percent of Net users there have shied away from online banking, citing security worries.

As one canny listener suggested on RadioNZ this morning, the trojan/keylogger problem is pretty much a Windows-only issue so I'm wondering why cybercafes don't switch to Linux/Firefox and save their customers some grief.

Let's face it -- the IE-specific features (such as Active-X) ought to be turned off on a public-access PC anyway or there's no way to guarantee the security of the computers being used.

So how are the banks going to get around this problem of phishing and malware so as to win back the confidence of customers?

The two-factor system has been widely touted by many and discussed in this column recently. It's still susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks but is still a snot-load more effective than just an ID/password.

Given that we still have a relatively low uptake of broadband in NZ, what about implementing a dial-back facility for those who access the Net using a regular modem through the PSTN? Nah... to hard - few banks have any dial-out capabilities anyway.

What about delivering the second factor via SMS? Well that *is* better but (believe it or not), not everyone has a cellphone and on occasion I've had SMS messages delayed by several hours due to hiccups on the mobile network.

While I was in Auckland filming "Let's Get Inventin" before Christmas, I met an interesting fellow who's currently working on a service that highlights just how cheap some cellular technology is. His service throws in a free camera-phone as part of the deal and can afford to do so because they're just so damned cheap to produce.

Maybe the banks could offer their online banking customers a simple little receiver (like a pager perhaps) that could be attached to their keyring. I'm sure these things could be made for just a few dollars each and would provide the perfect vehicle for delivering the second-factor.

What's more, if it had a simple one-line display, it could even be used to deliver notification of any activity on your account (EFTPOS card use, cheques cashed, etc) -- thus adding a further level of security to your daily banking activities.

Can someone please pick holes in this for me?

By the way all you banks who might be listening -- my publication of this idea is considered prior art :-)

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