Impacts Of Security Threats On Internet Banking Information Technology Essay

Internet banking is a system in which customers can view their account details, pay bills and transfer money through internet and also get the details of products and services being offered by banks.

Role on internet banking is vital in the growth of economy. Due to the vast growth of internet in every sectors, the banking sector is also getting the benefits of internet and Banks are moving from traditional transaction system to the digital and online transaction system.

There are lot of benefits including time saving and cost reduction in this way that customers can get access their accounts in few seconds through internet from their personal computers, laptops even mobile phones which have internet enables connection. They no more need to go in a banks and stand on long queue for bills payment, money transfer to other persons or getting information about their accounts. Infact internet banking has changed the life of people and they are getting benefits from this facility.

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On the other hand, there is very serious issue, which is arising now a days for internet banking that is security threats. In every day news you must have listened that now a days hackers are doing cyber crime by stealing millions of pounds from banks through internet banking. This serious security threat is very harmful for the internet banking and need to overcome with the proper planning.

Problem Statement:

With the growth of internet banking, there are lot of security threats include: (hacking, viruses, grooming, phishing, spam etc) are arising. For preventing these threats, we need to tackle them by making improvements in security measures.

Literature Review:

This is the era of information technology. With the help of it, every sector of economy is growing. Banking sector is also one of them in which banks have made lot of improvements in facilities for their customers. Internet banking is one of them. Internet banking has made peoples life easy. Customers are no any more need to stand on queue for bills payment and money transfer and for other banking facilities like products and services being offered by the bank and any rules and regulations and any policy change by the bank etc. Customers can easily get access to the website of the bank through internet and can avail the lot of internet banking facilities.

“[The evolution of electronic banking started from the use of automatic teller machines (ATM) and has passed through telephone banking, direct bill payment, electronic fund transfer and the revolutionary online banking (Alter, 2002). The future of electronic banking according to some is the acceptance of WAP enabled banking and interactive-TV banking (Petrus & Nelson, 2006). But it has been forecasted that among all the categories, online banking is the future of electronic financial transactions. The rise in the e-commerce and the use of internet in its facilitation along with the enhanced online security of transactions and sensitive information has been the core reasons for the penetration of online banking in everyday life (Papers4you.com, 2006). According to the latest official figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS, 2006) indicate that subscriptions to the internet has grown more than 50% from 15 million in 2000 to 35 million in 2005 in the UK. It has also been estimated that 60% of the population in the UK use internet in their daily lives.

The fundamental shift towards the involvement of the customer in the financial service provision with the help of technology especially internet has helped in reduce costs of financial institutions as well as helped client to use the service at anytime and from virtually anywhere with access to an internet connection]”.

Got from: http://www.articlesbase.com/finance-articles/ebanking-online-banking-and-its-role-in-todays-society-40435.html#ixzz12R16EPwe

“[Internet banking (or E-banking) means any user with a personal computer and a browser can get connected to his bank’s website to perform any of the virtual banking functions. In internet banking system the bank has a centralized database that is web-enabled. All the services that the bank has permitted on the internet are displayed in menu. Any service can be selected and further interaction is dictated by the nature of service]”. Got from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/29385455/Internet-Banking

The contribution of internet banking in the growth of banking sector can not be ignored. But beside this evolution. There are lot of security threats to the internet banking which needs to eradicate.

Security Threats to Internet Banking:

“[The threat from internet fraudsters is continually evolving. The best way to tackle these threats is to ensure you are always aware of them and how they work]”.

Got from: http://www.halifax.co.uk/SecurityandPrivacy/security-centre-home/common-threats/

Following are the common security threats to internet banking:

Phishing and pharming:

“[Phishing is a process used by fraudsters to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by pretending to be an email or message from a trustworthy organisation. Communications claiming to be from banks, popular social websites and auction sites are commonly used to trick the unsuspecting public.

Phishing is usually carried out by email or instant messaging and often directs users to enter details at a fake website which looks almost identical to the real one, however some phishing scams are able to create pop-ups that appear whilst you are using a banking site]”. Got from: http://www.halifax.co.uk/SecurityandPrivacy/security-centre-home/common-threats/phishing/

“[Phishing is a scam where hackers ‘fish’ for your personal details by using hoax emails claiming to be from financial institutions. This method continues to be favoured by online thieves]”.

Hoax emails claiming to be from banks are often generated overseas and are sent in bulk. The email asks the recipient to provide sensitive information such as their username, password, customer registration number or PIN by providing a link leading to a fake website, enabling thieves to gather the details for later fraudulent use]”. Got from: http://www.anz.com/personal/ways-bank/internet-banking/protect-banking/security-threats/

“[Phishing (also called spoofing) is the act of fraudulently acquiring sensitive information from a user, such as passwords and credit card details, by masquerading as a trustworthy person or business with real need for such information in a seemingly official electronic notification or message.

The e-mail directs the user to visit a website where they are asked to update personal information such as their credit card number, password and bank account number, details that the legitimate organisation already has.

Another variant of fraudulent attack is pharming. Here, instead of setting up a similar website, the DNS server software is exploited and the hacker acquires the domain name of a site and redirects traffic from that site to another site. (The DNS server is one that converts the website name into an IP address. The IP address is the unique set of numbers that identifies a website on the internet.) The rest of the mechanism is similar to phishing]”. Got from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/7182221/Internet-Threats

“[Malware is malicious software that is created by fraudsters and criminals to infiltrate computers. It can take many forms and is used for a large number of illegal purposes such as stealing personal information, deleting or corrupting data, creating botnets (networks of infected computers) and bypassing security software.  

There are many forms of malware. Most common types are viruses, trojans, spyware and scareware]”. Got from: http://www.halifax.co.uk/SecurityandPrivacy/security-centre-home/common-threats/malware/?pagetabs=0.

The above montioned are some of the security threats to the internet banking and there are very harmful for the internet banking not only for banks but its customers as well. Because fraudsters are indulge in these heinus criminal activities for the purpose of theft of money. They try to adopt different type of scams/ tricks and try to get access to the confidential of the customers of banks. They use different type of software like Malware which include viruses, trojans and spyware etc. they also try to get personal banking information of customers through phishing and pharming.

Methodology:

“[A method is “a means or manner of procedure, a regular and systematic way of accomplishing something. An orderly and systematic arrangement. Procedures according to a detailed, logically ordered plan.”

Tools that are used to gather data or evidence (survey, interview, participant observation).

Methodology: A set of methods you are going to adopt to deal with the problem or situation.

The methodology will also detail about the analysis approach too.

Is much more than just stating your methods and techniques

Why you have chosen a certain method over another.

Professional issues and ethics in data collection

Problems that you foresee and how you are to overcome these

Replicate the methodology.

Maintain a form of labbook – what, why, how, results from which you can write-up the methodology]”. Got from: university lectures Slides: EFFECTIVE RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE – 1011 (CMI3416-1011) > MODULE MATERIALS > SEPTOCT2010 > THURSDAY, research Methods lecture.

For conducting my research I will use qualitative research method.

Definition of Qualitative Research: Got from university lectures Slides: “EFFECTIVE RESEARCH & PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE – 1011 (CMI3416-1011) > MODULE MATERIALS > SEPTOCT2010 > THURSDAY” research methods lecture.

“[Qualitative research is a process of enquiry that draws data from the context in which events occur, in an attempt to describe these occurrences, as a means of determining the process in which events are embedded and the perspectives of those participating in the events, using induction to derive possible explanations based on observed phenomena]”. (Gorman & Clayton, 1997).

I will use the techniques of questionnaire from the customers of the specific bank. And will ask the questions regarding internet banking. And I also meet with the managers of Information Systems department for getting information regarding security threats to online banking and will ask that what preventive measures they have taken to get rid of the security challenges being faced by the banks through internet banking and I will also get related information and issues from internet through different websites.

Limitation of my research is that the Information systems manager of a specific bank may refuse to share some important information regarding security threats by saying that this is banks confidential and I cant provide you such information.

Professional and ethical issues of my research include: I will have to be aware of the plagiarism, paraphrasing, and referencing, copyright, and need to give proper acknowledgement to the contributors of the research.

At the end I will give my suggestions that what the ways and methods which will lead to eradicate the security threats and what will be the improvements need in the internet banking software for overcome the security threats.