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I only caught a snippet of media professional cheapskate Clark Howard's show where he said something about getting a Chromebook and only using it for your banking. Wouldn't that be just as vulnerable to hacking as any other style of computer?
My laptop has been acting up lately and I may be buying a new one anyway. I hate to spend money to get two.
I keep mine on a separate PC that is not networked and I make sure I don't use the same USB devices on both systems. There are some hacks against an air gap, but at least I've made it more difficult. I do all my banking in person, apart from the cash machine withdrawals.
And let me guess, you're a senior citizen rjshae? Because they are the only ones that do banking 'in person'.
I will do my banking on my laptop, on my desktop, on my work PC and on my phone. I have never been hacked. I have never had my identity stolen. My credit card info was stolen once, that was from me entering my credit card on a sketchy shopping site, not a hack into my banking sites. Live and learn.
If you're storing personal data then store it on a thumb drive. Only plug it in when you need to access your data. If you're talking about just using it for banking websites, just load Norton NIS on your computer and you'll be fine. If you're dead set on getting another computer for banking only, you can get ones from Amazon starting at $70.
And let me guess, you're a senior citizen rjshae? Because they are the only ones that do banking 'in person'.
I will do my banking on my laptop, on my desktop, on my work PC and on my phone. I have never been hacked. I have never had my identity stolen. My credit card info was stolen once, that was from me entering my credit card on a sketchy shopping site, not a hack into my banking sites. Live and learn.
No one needs a separate computer to bank on.
I’m definitely a senior citizen and I have an extra laptop which I use only for banking and investment purposes. It never goes anywhere on the net except Fidelity, Vanguard and the two banks I use.
I sure hope you make it to real senior citizen status.
Like any insurance, the economics (and should-I or not question) depends on what is at risk vs. the consequences of a loss.
If you're a millionaire, or retired KGB, then you'll need an air-gapped abacus in an NSA-rated TEMPEST-shielded room.
If you're not concerned about digital attackers trained and supported by a hostile nation-state,
then all you need to do is take standard measures:
* Install, use, maintain, and update: antivirus and anti-malware.
* Do your banking at home on a system network-cabled to your modem.
* Have a ridiculously complex password for your home WiFi, that is set to use the latest security (WPA2-PSK). NOTE: do Not, repeat NOT use the long-broken security-with-a-button-push "WPA"
* If you do anything outside your home WiFi that's sensitive, use a VPN.
And let me guess, you're a senior citizen rjshae? Because they are the only ones that do banking 'in person'.
I will do my banking on my laptop, on my desktop, on my work PC and on my phone. I have never been hacked. I have never had my identity stolen. My credit card info was stolen once, that was from me entering my credit card on a sketchy shopping site, not a hack into my banking sites. Live and learn.
No one needs a separate computer to bank on.
I've even done banking to the US from China. But in that case I did use a VPN
I can understand a senior's reluctance to do online banking, as it's new and different, and there's a lot of sensationalism on the news about getting hacked. My in-laws are the same - they go to the bank, rarely use an ATM and refuse to do online banking on the computer. They also write checks for everything and don't do digital payments. Fair enough.
If I was nervous I'd set up a virtual machine on my system for something iffy. But that's more complex than what most people would care to do.
I only caught a snippet of media professional cheapskate Clark Howard's show where he said something about getting a Chromebook and only using it for your banking. Wouldn't that be just as vulnerable to hacking as any other style of computer?
My laptop has been acting up lately and I may be buying a new one anyway. I hate to spend money to get two.
Less vulnerable due to the locked down nature of Chrome OS vs Windows. I use whatever device is more convenient at the moment to use, could be desktop, laptop, or Chrome Book. I don't use my phone as I use a credit union that is pretty backwards. It works on the phone but there's no mobile version so the convenient part generally just makes it easier to do on one of the other three. I mean, for someone that browses around on shady websites and then when they get popups that want to download executables and then they go and install said executables, fair point. Good advise for them.
This is effectively second computer. You boot the disk instead of windows, since it's on CD/DVD the system files cannot be changed. Everything is loaded into RAM, no files are written to disk. As you soon as reboot into Windows any temp files are gone. Only downside is you cannot update the browser for example but this should not be an issue as long as you are sticking to financial sites etc.
I’m definitely a senior citizen and I have an extra laptop which I use only for banking and investment purposes. It never goes anywhere on the net except Fidelity, Vanguard and the two banks I use.
You don't need to be that afraid to do online banking is my point. But your generation is too freaked out by all this to trust it.
Quote:
I sure hope you make it to real senior citizen status.
That's kind of an odd thing to wish someone. I hope you don't die soon, too, friend!
I wasn't criticizing you for being a senior citizen. Don't take that personally. I was merely stating a fact, and I was right: 95% of people that go into a bank to do banking are past a certain age. I am also going to guess the person who asked this question in the first place...is also of a certain age.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkJames68
I can understand a senior's reluctance to do online banking, as it's new and different, and there's a lot of sensationalism on the news about getting hacked. My in-laws are the same - they go to the bank, rarely use an ATM and refuse to do online banking on the computer. They also write checks for everything and don't do digital payments.
Quoted for truth. It is what it is. But I'm a little tired of having to buy stuff on Amazon for my mother in law because she won't even give Amazon her credit card.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ED_RDNC
* Do your banking at home on a system network-cabled to your modem.
You should not be afraid to use WiFi unless you live in a densely packed urban environment and even then I personally still would using the rest of your advice (good encryption and strong passwords).
Especially with modern credit security, these things people are afraid to do, like banking on an internet connected computer, are just stuff you simply don't need to worry about.
You think there's someone out there trying to get on your wifi to hack your Vanguard account? What are they going to do then? Redistrubte your holdings? No. lol
Cash out your retirement? No. Is it really that easy to do that? Answer: no.
Change your info to their info or change your password? You use MFA/2FA, don't you? Of course you do. Then that's impossible. And then if someone did manage to hack into your wifi, wait patiently days, maybe even a week, for you to finally login to your bank account, Then get in then start hacking then start stealing all your stuff then lose everything because you had fraud protection in place... yea... people aren't really doing this anymore.
And your banking? When someone got my Chase bank card, here's what happened. They charged something for .50 cents. It went through. They charged something for .50 again. It went through. I did not notice these. But then I got a text message from Chase "Hey, are you trying to buy a Christian Dior purse for $1,000? Reply YES if so".
I said NO, called Chase and that was blocked. I also got my 2 50 cent charges back.
If you take advantage of the tools your banking institutions give you, you have NOTHING to fear.
Last edited by Peregrine; 02-06-2020 at 08:35 AM..
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