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From the Editor in Chief
Phone + Internet Caf = Secure Banking? You Betcha
Fred Douglis Data Domain [email protected]
For a computer scientist, I suppose Im a bit of a Luddite. Unlike nearly all the computer science sorts I know, not to mention a huge
fraction of professionals in all walks of life, Ive resisted the move toward increasingly capable (and increasingly expensive) mobile devices such as the Apple iPhone, BlackBerries, and so on. I havent felt the need to be attached to my email 24/7, and I havent felt the compulsion to have easy access to all the other applications that are available. Well, maybe that last statement is getting less and less true, as increasingly interesting applications become available. Also, of course, consolidating my various devices would have advantages.
The one device I always take with me on trips is my laptop. I know I can rely on security between my browser and the various Internet servers I access, even if the networks I use are, well, dodgy. This doesnt mean Ill willingly connect to the Free Public Wi-Fi hotspots (see, for instance, http://onemansblog.com/2007/10/ 23/the-threat-of-free-public-wi/). Given that I read mail via a secure connection and dont do an awful lot else, I should be okay. Theres always my desktop rewall of course.
But what if I didnt want to take my laptop? I recently had dinner with an old friend who had taken a trip around the world. I was really surprised to hear him talking about the great Internet cafs in various countries, such as India, and even more surprised when he mentioned using them to do his banking. Was he daft? Shouldnt he assume that every public computer he accesses has been infested with a dozen keystroke loggers, all competing for the chance to let someone follow him into his account and clean him out?
As he explained it, he established a bank account in the US. He entrusted that bank with account information for other companies that he might wish to access, and the point bank provided an automated tunneling system to connect him to those other institutions. So, if he could
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