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Unwired but safe?
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As more financial transactions move online the stakes are getting higher for playing it safe. SERISH NANISETTI finds out
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PHOTO: PARTH SANYAL
BANKING ON IT? Wireless banking can be a breeze but do look over your shoulder
How safe is the Internet? That was the question some years back when people were afraid of hackers getting access to mails. Now, as the net evolves into its second avatar and more and more people move their financial transactions online, the threat has gained greater urgency.
"I am just discovering the benefits of online payments as I have started transferring the rent to my house-owner after a few clicks and clacks. I am even making my life insurance payment online. This is good but I am not so sure about how safe my transactions are," says Vikram Prasad who works for a US online retailer. His salary is also credited online for which he gets an SMS at 12 in the night on the last day of the month and an email giving the breakup of the salary deposited right down to the last penny.
Every detail of his life is online. What if someone has access to this information? Is his money safe? Maybe. More importantly, is the information being transacted safe now, as even Income Tax returns can be filed online?
At the other end of the spectrum is Sailaja, working as an analyst with a consultancy firm. Her transactions are limited to checking the account information in her ICICI Bank account. "I am not sure about how safe are these Internet transactions especially when unknown people are able to send mails to inbox. If they can find out about my email ID they surely can find out my account information. No?" she asks rhetorically.
There are no simple answers to these questions.
As the bandwidth expands and people access Internet from an ever-expanding array of services and forms, security is a casuality. Earlier it was only the PC sitting on a table that was used for browsing now the same as well as a host of new transactions are being performed using a range of gizmos ranging from palmtops to laptops to cellphones, the wired network has been replaced by an unwired as well as alternatively wired networks. If Sailaja accesses Internet from her laptop using a cable modem, Vikram Prasad uses a conventional network in the office and a Wi-Fi network in his apartment complex.
A few days back when a few Boston hackers decided to check the security of computer industry's meet in San Francisco, they managed to breach the traffic of 56 percent of the gizmos being used by the industry personnel. If this is the state of security of people who pride themselves for providing security networks for others, the fate of you and me can well be imagined. And to think that is an imagined problem created by some delinquent-minded geeks is wrong. The equipment, the software and the nerds who did the airwave monitoring at the San Francisco conference are very much available in India.
This is not to say that we should say goodbye to Internet transactions and we should get back to chopping trees. No. That's not the solution but safe browsing habits are the first step in safety.
Risqué browsers are more at risk as they click open torrents that set up tunnels into the system that can be used to funnel information. "Free MP3" is one of the favourite search words on the Internet, type it and you might end up with a site that not just copies the MP3 file you want but also a file that will ping back the information on your computer.
Safety first
Stick to a commercially available firewall. A few online scanners are also available, but you have to be sure before you entrust your system to unknown entities.
Most financial transaction sites have https instead of the regular http for ordinary sites at the beginning of the URL. The browser will also have a lock sign on the right bottom of the page.
One analyst suggests that you change your name to suggest a different gender to cheat potential hackers.
If you have home Wi-Fi network keep changing the router password. Limit the number of users who can use your router to stop potential trouble-makers.
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