Share your opinion about safety of online banking

There's a TAN system here in Germany which uses your actual bank card and a small cardreader device that looks like a pocket calculator. Whenever you make an online transaction, the website gives you a number to enter into the TAN device (after you slide your bankcard into it). It spits out another number which you enter back into the website, and if it's correct the transaction is carried out.
Annoyingly cumbersome, but it works really well. You just gotta remember to have your card and the "pocket calculator" with you if there's any chance you need to use your online banking on the road...

Corazon said:

There's a TAN system here in Germany which uses your actual bank card and a small cardreader device that looks like a pocket calculator. Whenever you make an online transaction, the website gives you a number to enter into the TAN device (after you slide your bankcard into it). It spits out another number which you enter back into the website, and if it's correct the transaction is carried out.
Annoyingly cumbersome, but it works really well. You just gotta remember to have your card and the "pocket calculator" with you if there's any chance you need to use your online banking on the road...

We've got that system in Switzerland, too - I think it's offered by the too-big-to-fail banks
Regards from across the border, by the way - herzliche Grüsse! :-D

Corazon said:

There's a TAN system here in Germany which uses your actual bank card and a small cardreader device that looks like a pocket calculator. Whenever you make an online transaction, the website gives you a number to enter into the TAN device (after you slide your bankcard into it). It spits out another number which you enter back into the website, and if it's correct the transaction is carried out.
Annoyingly cumbersome, but it works really well. You just gotta remember to have your card and the "pocket calculator" with you if there's any chance you need to use your online banking on the road...

There is a similar system in the UK. I think having an email strictly for banking and related items is good as it probably will not get spammed (mine doesn't) thus leaving you to delete all the usual spam on other email accounts without worry. Erasing your browser cache after using online banks also helps. I tend to trust online banking and shopping although I don't like to leave any credit card details on any site - but I'm afraid I do.

pincushion said:

Corazon said:

There's a TAN system here in Germany which uses your actual bank card and a small cardreader device that looks like a pocket calculator. Whenever you make an online transaction, the website gives you a number to enter into the TAN device (after you slide your bankcard into it). It spits out another number which you enter back into the website, and if it's correct the transaction is carried out.
Annoyingly cumbersome, but it works really well. You just gotta remember to have your card and the "pocket calculator" with you if there's any chance you need to use your online banking on the road...

There is a similar system in the UK. I think having an email strictly for banking and related items is good as it probably will not get spammed (mine doesn't) thus leaving you to delete all the usual spam on other email accounts without worry. Erasing your browser cache after using online banks also helps. I tend to trust online banking and shopping although I don't like to leave any credit card details on any site - but I'm afraid I do.

Many online retailers now use Verified by Visa, which gives you the added protection of another personal password that proves you are the cardholder.

https://www.securesuite.net/csi/docs/faq.jsp

I, too, am very cautious about using a credit card to pay online. Some of my favourite shops fortunately offer gift cards with a limited sum preloaded on them, so I use those. Once they're over, I go to the store and have them reloaded at the counter.

I prefer not to carry cash with me above a small sum so a credit or debit card works fine for me.

Don't forget that an online purchase with a credit card has the added advantage that the credit card provider has to reimburse you if fraud has taken place, which is something cash can never provide.

It is probable that hardly anything we do on the Internet is truly secure -

htttp://www.darkreading.com/advanced-threats/167901091/security/client-security/231901086/banking-trojans-adapting-to-cheat-out-of-band-security.html

but it is the future so either we embrace it (with caution) or don't as we see fit.

Interestingly enough, some credit card companies let you generate virtual CC numbers and associate them with your real credit card for one-time use on any shopping website...when making a purchase you simply enter the virtual CC number instead of your real one.
The transaction goes through as usual but the shopping site never learns your actual CC number - only the CC issuing company knows how to use the virtual CC number, and it only works once.

Athene: dankeschön, und gruezi zurück!