Estonian banks planning to dump code cards in online banking
13.02.2008
TALLINN, Feb 13, BNS - Attacks on customers of the online service of Hansapank have forced Estonian banks to agree on tougher security measures, with a full switch to chip cards in online identification being planned, the daily Postimees reported.
That would mean and end to the use of code cards.
As a first measure, all major banks announced on Tuesday that starting from May customers using code cards for identification will be able to move no more than 5,000 kroons (EUR 320) per day via an Internet bank. The current limit, imposed in May last year, is 10,000 kroons.
The move comes four weeks after a massive attack on online clients of Hansapank, the paper said.
Katrin Taliharm, manager of the Association of Estonian Banks, said that banks with higher daily limits were attacked more aggressively.
"The reason is simple: if a criminal succeeds in gaining access to an account with such a bank the potential gains are bigger," she said.
Taliharm said that while banks were planning to end the use of code cards, no final decision had been made.
Tiit Pekk, the manager in charge of IT projects at Hansapank, said that the halving of the daily limit for online banking transactions affected a large number of people.
In all about 780,000 customers have signed up to Hansapank's online service and an estimated 700,000 of them use a code card, according to Pekk.
The problem with code cards is that criminals can copy the codes using spyware and gain access to other persons' bank accounts, he added.
The number of online customers of all Estonian banks taken together is approximately 1.5 million.
(EUR 1 = EEK 15.65)
Tallinn newsroom, +372 610 8829, majandus@bns.ee
 
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