Posts Tagged ‘Online Banking’

Small Business Banking Less Secure Online Than Personal Banking

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010
Cyber-Defenses

Cyber-Defenses

The American Bankers Association and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have responded to increasing cyber-robberies targeting small businesses. They issued an advisory to use a separate computer with no other functionality except for online banking.  The FBI is investigating suspicious patterns of “banking Trojans” or malware on computers that enable access to online bank accounts. These Trojans are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their manipulation of technologies for clearinghouse and wire transfers.  The FBI has investigated more than 200 incidents in which cyber-robbers effected fraudulent transfers of banking funds involving more than $100 million for which the victims were mostly small businesses.  Sadly, business banking accounts do not benefit from the same protections afforded to individual consumer accounts, which require banks to fully reimburse account holders who immediately report fraudulent account activity. In the case of banking fraud perpetrated on a business account, the bank can deny its liability for the failure of the business customer to properly protect its computer.  We should all request clarification from our banks on their fraud protection policies.  Meanwhile, protect your business by conducting banking activity from a stand-alone computer that is never used for e-mail or web browsing, making it less vulnerable to infection by malware.