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Barclays Leads the Way in Online Protection
(20-04-07) - Barclays Bank has announced a new anti-fraud initiative for online banking customers.
The new scheme involves ‘Pinsentry’ card readers, which Barclays is planning to send to its online customers. The calculator-like readers are similar to those you would expect to use in a shop to confirm your PIN, and will be sent free of charge to more than half a million Barclays customers.
Using these readers, customers will be able to make card payments by tapping in their PIN rather than remembering a series of passwords and codes. They will need to use the ‘Pinsentry’ machine when making a particular transaction for the first time, but will be able to pay bills or established payees as normal.
Experts have already predicted that technology like this could change the face of online credit and debit card payments.
"Other banks in the UK will be following a similar path," said Nigel Reavley, director of card reader company Xiring. "While the amount of online banking fraud is small, it has a disproportionate effect on a bank's brand. Banks can't take that risk at a time when they want to push more customers into online banking."
The move by Barclays has also highlighted the vulnerability of current online banking methods. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, said: "Including two-factor authentication in the online banking process is definitely better security - keyboard logging spyware and phishing emails won't be effective.”
Chris Eagle, Commercial Manager at Credit Choices, said: “Banks need to wise up to what their customers want, and many people are nervous about the safety risks of internet banking. This is certainly a step in the right direction.”
