Online+Banking

Overview
[|49]% of people who use the Internet also use it for banking. Although it would seem only young people are using the Internet to bank, but approximately 40% of all people ages 45 to 69 use it. The overall numbers for online bankers continue to rise; in 2010 the numbers were up 27% from 2007. Online Banking has become an increasingly popular option for computer literate people from all around the globe because of its convenience. You don’t have to go to your banks branch to transfer money or check account balances, and bill paying also has become exponentially easier.

The seeds for Online Banking were sewn in the 1981. New York’s four major banks (Citibank, Chase Manhattan, Chemical and Manufacturers Hanover) decided to offer home banking services using the videotex system. Because of the commercial failure of videotex systems these bank services never really became popular in America. However, in France, their videotex system (Minitel) was bought by a London telecommunication provider and saw more widespread success. The British used the Prestel videotex system and which allowed the [|Nottingham Building Society] to access its account information from [|Bank of Scotland] on a computer screen. It was not until 1994 that Stanford Federal Credit Union set a precedent and allowed all of it’s members to use Internet banking.

Online banking is difficult security wise because it is a one-stop shop for identity thieves and advocates of bank fraud. People’s full account information is online so the usual single password authentication is not sufficient. The system that is currently in-pace for transactions online is called the [|PIN/TAN] system. The system has many different ways to check itself such as routine texts to the account holder when transactions are being completed and one-time authentication passwords for each transaction as well as the account password.

Most of the attacks that occur online today involve TAN thefts. The two main ways to do this are called [|phishing] and [|pharming]. Phishing is masquerading as a trustworthy entity in online communications in order to receive sensitive information from individuals. Often, phishers pose as the bank itself and send e-mails to users requesting information. Pharming is creating a bogus website and re-directing users there while they are in a transaction.

**History**
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**Opinion**
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**Future Trends?**
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