In the past, banks have sought to address this issue with customer education and to offer protection with behind-the-scenes software.
The problem will always remain that should an online banking customer give away their user names, logon codes and other information, they will expose themselves to fraud. The number of customers who do this is relatively small and we can see that education drives by FNB, industry groups such as SABRIC and other banks have achieved a great deal.
FNB have, however, noted the early signs of a new and more important threat. Malware designed to steal a user's confidential banking information may be embedded in unsolicited email and may be triggered by simply opening an email. In addition, malware may also be hidden on websites.
In partnership with Prevx, a UK-based security company, FNB Online Banking is now offering Prevx SafeOnlineTM, for phishing, malware and spyware protection across all online activities. While certain banking security systems offer protection only while logged onto an online banking site, Prevx SafeOnlineTM constantly monitors and protects user information on all websites from being stolen by phishing or malware. The software can also determine if the user has logged onto a hoax banking site used for phishing.
This is the first time that this software will be offered in South Africa.
The system requires a small initial download of less than 1MB and takes less than 1 minute to install, following which the user is fully protected. The software updates itself automatically to ensure that the latest protection measures are applied. The download is offered to FNB Online Banking and Online Banking EnterpriseTM users once they login with easy-to-follow guidelines.
The service is available to both our personal banking and our commercial banking clients.