Today.Az » Business » How safe is Internet banking in Azerbaijan?
15 December 2011 [10:08] - Today.Az
The "Bank - Client" electronic systems are widely used worldwide. They became an integral part of banking practice for physical and legal entities. The matter does not only rest in IT development and the Internet. It is much more convenient for banks to work this way. Naturally, they encourage customers by forcing them to move to "paperless" technologies. But how safe are these solutions?
Online banking has a number of advantages that benefit both the bank and its customers. First, it frees the client from the necessity of visiting the bank branches and offices to make the required transactions. The bank allows saving on the costs of customer service. Second, the Internet banking is cheap or even free in some cases. It is functional wherever there is Internet. This makes it even more attractive. Third, there is a specific range of services, which aims to serve legal entities and companies. This facilitates and accelerates the process of conducting their financial transactions.
However, customers of Azerbaijani banks do not always trust the Internet technologies and often prefer making banking operations through a bank clerk. Local online banking and number of users of Internet banking in Azerbaijan are much inferior to the latter compared to the large commercial European or Russian banks.
Millions of people across the globe choose online banking from traditional banking services. The number of online bank customers is growing rapidly. At present, the figure hits 600 million worldwide. It is not much, but the figure increases each year by 20 percent. This occurs despite the fact that about 2 million Americans were affected by fraudulent activity in 2004, during the promotion of the service. Besides the technical departments of banks constantly modernize the security system to protect the customers' bank accounts, there are some risks while using this online services.
Hackers break into the database, regardless of credit card holders' caution. The level of data protection in virtual mode does not depend on users. "As a rule, it is difficult to determine the reliability of online safety system of a bank," Geoff Webb, director of department at Credant Technologies said. The banks do not like to share secrets of security, because they do not want the swindlers to know about them. However, there are common elements: financial organizations must encrypt the data, to separate the information about the credit cards from other information, as well as to ensure maximum security of data entered in the form of Internet applications. Moreover, constant trainings on information security for banks' employees is another key component.
The U.S authorities pay much attention to the Internet security. The Congress and the Ministry of Commerce deal with these issues. President Obama signed a new law concerning data protection in cyberspace in May.
Milli Kart was successfully certified for compliance with safety standards Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) in the area of payment cards in Azerbaijan. PCI DSS standard was designed to improve security of personal data of cardholders.
Another processing center Azericard activated a module. It allows entering a password 3D Secure while making online payments. 3D Secure password is PIN for this card. It allows paying for goods and services directly through the website. If the website supports 3D Secure technologies, the system will automatically ask to enter 3D Secure password. Only the cardholder will know about this. The security of data transmission in a network is ensured by using a protocol for encrypting information Secure Socket Layer (SSL). 3D Secure protocol was developed by international payment systems VISA International and MasterCard International to protect the funds of the clients, who make transactions in the Internet.
The Internet banking system is well secured. All transmitted information is encrypted in the system. The e-certificates are used to identify the user. One-time passwords are used while operating in the system. They are valid for only this operation in the system.
However, the operations with the bank via the Internet make it necessary for the client to use additional personal protective means. While using online banking, it is possible to check accounts daily, rather than once a month by subscription. One should not use simple passwords, about which others may guess. One should also regularly change passwords, install good anti-virus protection, to destroy all account statements, or store them in a safe place.
Moreover, it is necessary to have a strong legislative regulation order. It has not been formed by the Azerbaijani banking legislation. From a legal point of view, Internet banking in the narrow sense is a special kind of banking activity.
Knowing that the state can protect from troubles in the Internet, citizens will stop ignoring the Internet banking facilities. By taking the simplest security measures, one can significantly reduce the risk of compromising personal data and to easily use simplified banking services through a network. It is possible to become a victim of fraud in real life without certain insurance.
Leyla Abdullayeva /Trend/
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