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Human error to blame

Patricia Pieterse
By Patricia Pieterse, iWeek assistant editor
Johannesburg, 12 Nov 2007

Human error to blame

Using an SMS password as an added security measure for Internet banking is no guarantee that money is safe, according to a new Queensland University of Technology study, says Science Daily.

Mohammed AlZomai, from QUT`s Information Security Institute, said one in five online transactions were vulnerable to obvious attacks, despite added security methods such as SMS passwords being adopted.

AlZomai said the study had found the security threat had more to do with the usability of the SMS system and human error, rather than any technical security problem.

Diebold upgrades ATM tech

Diebold is starting to supply ATMs with technology to better guard against the theft of private financial information during an automated banking transaction, called skimming, according to wdtn.com.

A sensor in Diebold`s Opteva ATMs will be able to determine if information is being skimmed off of a bank card`s magnetic strip. This can happen when the device is illegally attached to an ATM`s card reader.

Information from a bank card can then be used to make a duplicate card, allowing access to an account.

Power supply limits Kenya

Inadequate power supply has become one of the major obstacles to the increased use of IT in the financial and telecommunications sectors, says AllAfrica.com.

This research, conducted by Summit Strategies with ITC sponsorship, says the high cost of Internet services and poor quality of high speed bandwidth were further limiting the efficiency of banks.

Services such as ATMs also run on similar infrastructure. To cut operating costs, the banking sector is proposing that ATM terminals, like computers, be exempted from taxation to enable them offer the service cheaper and to more people.

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