Why Americans are technology, political, and educational laggards and how it will doom them

[alfreda89]

I've been avoiding LJ, as I can fall into a time sink with no effort right now (love those meds!) but this article cropped up, and it's important. I'm ready to ask my credit union when we get the RSA authenticators.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=2946&tag=nl.e622

You ask for them, too!

UPDATE: I heard back from UFCU:

"Our strategy will be to implement dual factor authentication by year end per NCUA guidelines."

So, things get more complicated, but with even better protection?

Comments

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

This is good article and it raises important issues. I wish more people thought about these things. I appreciate your sharing it.

However, IMHO it misses a big point. *drags out soapbox*

Your credit union can't afford RSA authenticators. The technology is expensive and - as the article states - most people don't WANT them. So the credit union has to pay a lot of money to hope people will use them Frankly, they can't afford the risk. No only the cost, but the likelihood it will be money thrown away.

How do I know? I work for one of the top CU's in the US. I know we looked at this idea and - at least for now - have discarded it. I also know we could prevent a whole lot more fraud if we could convince people to do basic things that are low tech and in their power. Don't answer suspicious emails. Don't give your card/account information out to any yahoo who gives you an unsolicited phone call. Tell us when you lose your card right away. And please stop putting checks in your mailbox. Protect your elderly relatives and make sure they understand not to do these things either.

I've looked at the statistics for fraud. Not to say technology isn't a risk and we shouldn't watch these things, but the internet is a tiny, tiny percentage of the problem. (At least for now.) Your two biggest threats that compose over 2/3 of the pie chart are your mail getting stolen and someone you know taking your information.

And as far as tech threats - major corporations need to stop letting staff take unprotected laptops full of employee information off site to be stolen. There have been three major hits on this recently and that's just the stuff I hear about.

Not only that - the dirty secret no one wants to tell you is that merchants compromise your information all the time. We get notices for compromised debit/visa cards every day. All financial institutions do. At least we cancel them and tell people. Many banks don't bother. It's too expensive. They'd rather wait till you actually have fraud. And the credit card companies protect the merchants, so the consumers never even find out who compromised their information. If they knew, they could stop shopping there. But generally even the financial institutions aren't told. Ask your credit union what their policy is when Mastercard/Visa tells them about compromised cards.

People who do stupid things don't deserve to have their identity/money stolen. But we could make a big difference by taking responsibility for the things we have control over.

Sorry. I'll get off my soapbox now. :D Again, just my 2 cents. Sometimes I think I should bury my money in the backyard.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

Thanks -- that's very informative. My CU will probably tell me a similar story. Yet they have closed one branch and remodeled all but one of their sites to be remote tellers -- you only see them on a picture screen. I can go deal with one of the financial officers, but I'm getting used to the screen. After one branch was hit for a third time by thieves, the president decided none of his people were going to be held at gunpoint ever again, if he could help it.

I don't know if having the technology would be worth it if only a 1/3 wanted it -- perhaps a large group of CUs in affiliation could do it. But again, that may violate banking laws.

I'm trying to think up better ways to protect my card. However -- I was in an upscale gift store (art and ceramics, etc.) and a staff member had stuck a VISA number on a stickie facing the client opening of the counter! Of course I stared, thinking it was someone who stiffed them, but no, just someone waiting for something to come in. I pointed it out and suggested it be on the other side. The saleswoman was visibly pale. Someone got an earful, at the least, over that one.

And that was just not thinking -- and may have already cost the owner their security.

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

Wow - bank by televison. That's a new one. But I have to say I applaud the idea of protecting the people who get robbed. Too bad it comes at the expense of customer service.

It's shocking how many merchants do things like that - because they just don't think. It's been years, but when I worked in retail we had a 5 gallon bucket full of credit cards under the till...

My best advice is invest in a shredder. :)

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

My best advice is invest in a shredder. :)

Got one! And I use it daily -- that's how often I get CC offers.

[dancinghorse.livejournal.com]

I've got a BofA account, which at least means I've got that much security. The sitekeys are set up to be kind of fun: a large choice of images, and you get to put your own caption on. Kind of like lj icons. They are mandatory; no sitekey, no account access.

[alfreda89.livejournal.com]

I hope Chase thinks about doing something soon. I just went to having an email reminder of payment, since I'm so skitzy right now. But I need to return to tightening my credit up.