If you are scared of making an online banking transaction because your friend told you how he lost thousands in a fraud, relax. Banks are now strengthening their security measures for online customers.
HDFC Bank, for one, has roped in RSA, a security infrastructure provider, to counter any phishing, pharming and Trojan related threats for online banking customers.
Three other banks, including public and private players, are learnt to be close to announcing similar measures.
This is not entirely because of the Reserve Bank of India’s August 1, 2009 deadline, asking banks to offer security alerts for online card transactions above Rs 5,000, say bankers. “Banks are going beyond that (RBI mandate),” says Amuleek Bijral, country manager - India, RSA.
HDFC Bank, for instance, has deployed an RSA security facility under which the system will refer to a customer’s historical information before letting a transaction through.
“If the hacker has wired money (transferred money) to any account that you have not used in the past, then it will stop the transaction,” says Art Coviello, executive president of RSA.
The customer would then be contacted offline to verify whether it is the actual customer or a fraudster making the transaction.
Hitherto, the focus has been on the security of third party transfers (where money is transferred from one branch or one bank to another), which is the highest-risk area, says Vishal Salvi, chief information security officer at HDFC Bank.
The bank, where 28% of the total transactions are internet-based, has introduced an additional step whereby a customer can set his choice of photo and message, which would be displayed every time he logs in. “If his personalised photo and message are seen, the customer can be sure he is on the HDFC Bank website and not on any other fraud website,” Salvi says.
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