Online Banking: How Safe Is Your Money?

Avivah Litan, a financial-services security analyst at Gartner Group, said that a rise in online banking fraud attempts has followed banks' efforts to step up their security systems for debit and credit card payments. "It's too early to tell how the criminals will respond to the new security systems that banks are installing for their Web sites," Litan said.

Online banking is suffering through a withdrawal phase. A study last fall by I.T. security firm Entrust found that 18 percent of Americans who bank online plan to do so less often because of security concerns. A third of the respondents said they were worried about their bank's Web site being spoofed by a fraudulent facsimile that would trick them into divulging their logon information.

"Consumer confidence in online banking security has been damaged," said Chris Voice, vice president of technology at Entrust. "This is bad news for banks. If consumers start defecting from online banking to call centers or branches, this will put banks' costs up.".... for more of the story from Newsfactor