Cops say, use Mac, not Windows for online banking

When in doubt, there’s always a security story somewhere and this one’s got something rather, erm, ‘special’ about it – it hits us right in our wallet…

See, internet banking is becoming de rigeur. It’s the nicest way to visit your overdraft or to watch the numbers growing on your credit card statement as those punitive borrowing rates slowly enhance your debt. (So, how is it again banks lost all that money), anyway – I digress – the story is that now Australian police are warning citizens ‘down under’ to belay use of Windows for internet banking, advising they use a Mac or Linux machine instead.

"Detective Inspector Bruce van der Graaf from the Computer Crime Investigation Unit told the hearing that he uses two rules to protect himself from cybercriminals when banking online," Kotadia reports. "The first rule, he said, was to never click on hyperlinks to the banking site and the second was to avoid Microsoft Windows,” reports a local Ozzie tech title.

The Detective is anxious that any future laws passed by the Australian government to help make online banking more secure may demand ISP’s check for things like firewalls and the like, as the MUCH SAFER Mac and Linux systems don’t tend to use them (he reckons – don’t shoot the messenger, people)..

In his own words, then, rather than this tedious translation: “Van der Graaf said he mentioned the two alternatives to Windows because he was concerned about any future law that could require internet service providers or banks to check their users had protection before allowing them to connect. ‘If you had a rule where ISPs would have to check for firewalls or that sort of thing, people using this safer system would not be able to do their internet banking. People using an iPhone, which is quite safe, would then not be able to do their internet banking,’ he added."

‘Course, Windows 7 will solve ALL these things, won’t it, as it’s already winning pretty wide praise for being the closest OS to a Mac that Microsoft’s ever shipped – well, kind of – take a look...

Via: MacDailyNews