Design leaves sites vulnerable

A study had found a majority of Web sites floated by banks have design-related flaws that could make customers vulnerable to cyber-theft, endangering their money or even their identities, says NDTV Profit.

Led by an Indian American professor at University of Michigan, a study that surveyed Web sites of 214 financial institutions in 2006 found that more than 75% of them had at least one design flaw that made customers vulnerable to cyber thieves.

These design flaws were not bugs that could be fixed with a patch, the authors said, but they stemmed from the flow and layout of Web sites.

According to APACS, the UK payment association, the number of people banking online has increased by 505% in seven years, says Money News.

From 3.5 million in 2000, the figure was just over 21 million last year. Sandra Quinn of APACS said the organisation expects use of online banking to increase in the future.

APACS said the chances of fraud on online banking are very low, with the 2007 figures showing a year-on-year decline of 33% in such losses. But the number of phishing and spyware scams continues to increase.

Electronic payment experts have called for more "off-the-bank site" Automated Teller Machines and Point-of-Sales in Nigeria to technologically position the economy for the desired payment made for Vision 2020 and overall economic development, says The Punch.

According to them, the current amount of ATMs (over 4 000) in the country is not enough to meet the cash-based needs of 140 million Nigerians.

They said in order to meet the global average, Nigeria should expect to have at least 65 000 installed cash machines.