Two of South Africa’s biggest banks — Nedbank and Absa have reassured clients of the safety of banking on the internet. The re-insurance comes in the wake of media reports at the weekend that despite efforts to jack up security after recent breaches of their networks, hackers appear to still be able to penetrate some systems.
According to one report, despite a flurry of measures to fend off hackers, a computer engineer demonstrated to journalists just how easily Absa’s internet defences could be breached.
However, Absa claimed on Monday that its customers’ money was safe. It said that customers’ peace of mind remained its top priority and that the bank was committed to providing a secure internet banking service to its customers.
“Absa also has a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of fraud and will seek prosecution against anyone involved in fraudulent activities reported by our customers,” said Alfie Naidoo, Managing Executive Absa E- Channels.
“Our customers’ money is safe. We promise that, if a customer’s account is accessed illegally and where they have followed the suggested precautions, Absa will refund their money following a thorough investigation,” Naidoo added.
He said Absa IT experts had met with the Sunday Times and the software engineer that alleged to the Sunday Times that the internet banking security features of Absa, FNB and Standard Bank were potentially vulnerable to
internet fraudsters.
“The issue of identity theft, across both the local and international banking industry, has been further reinforced by the software engineer. This further emphasises the importance of an ongoing partnership between banks and their customers to effectively secure internet banking transactions,” Naidoo stated.
“Absa communicated to its customers last week that it is implementing two new internet banking security features to further enhance security for its customers. These include enhanced online authentication and random verification number security features.
“The enhanced online authentication comprises a password in addition to PIN, providing a second layer of security to the logon process. Absa internet banking customers will be asked to fill in random characters from their password each time they log in.
“The random verification number feature gives greater control over the creation of beneficiaries and operators linked to customers” accounts. A unique randomly generated code, delivered to the customer via SMS or e-mail, is required to enable the creation of online beneficiaries. Without this code online beneficiaries cannot be created and thus fraudsters cannot set-up bogus beneficiaries and siphon money out of customers” accounts. Absa believes that it is the combination of the steps taken to date and the inclusion of the above additional security features, that will most effectively protect customer banking details.”
Nedcor, the country’s biggest bank, also assured clients of the safety of its network, saying it had complete confidence in the world-class security measures that it had introduced to internet banking clients over 12 months ago to protect them against the risks associated with a compromise of passwords and PINs. – I-Net Bridge