40m bank details found online

The bank details of 40 million people have been recorded by a former British cop who plans to charge victims to see whether their details are available, reports News.com.au.

Colin Holder, a retired detective, has spent more than $324 000 scouring the Internet for stolen personal bank details of millions of people. Credit card details, bank account numbers, home addresses and PINs are all available according to Holder.

The data comes into criminal hands as result of “phishing”, where Internet users are duped into revealing their key details. Holder claims the highly sensitive information is readily available and traded over the Internet.

The Banking Industry Architecture Network (Bian) alliance has published the first major banking industry IT services standards for its members and the banking community at large, states ICFA Online.

The six standards represent Bian's efforts to help banks evolve a standards-based service-oriented architecture to accelerate return on investment from IT investments.

"The implementation of a service-oriented architecture is an important goal for banks and almost every bank is well under way in its efforts to evolve to an SOA," said Oliver Kling, secretary general for Bian.

One of the major features of banking today, and in the near future, is convenience banking, be it for the corporate or consumer segment, says the Philippine Star.

That means not having to visit the bank's branch, have to deal with volumes of paperwork, or even going to the ATMs. Instead, bank clients are maximising the telephone, computer, the Internet, and mobile phones.

“Our penetration rate for Internet banking rose from 15.1% in 2007 to 23%, as of the first quarter of 2009,” Jaime L. Araneta, senior vice-president and e-banking head for Philippine Savings Bank, pointed out.