Everything You Know About Password-Stealing Is Wrong 195
isoloisti writes "An article by some Microsofties in the latest issue of Computing Now magazine claims we have got passwords all wrong. When money is stolen, consumers are reimbursed for stolen funds and it is money mules, not banks or retail customers, who end up with the loss. Stealing passwords is easy, but getting money out is very hard. Passwords are not the bottleneck in cyber-crime and replacing them with something stronger won't reduce losses. The article concludes that banks have no interest in shifting liability to consumers, and that the switch to financially-motivated cyber-crime is good news, not bad. Article is online at computer.org site (hard-to-read multipage format) or as PDF from Microsoft Research."
Re:Banking passwords are overrated (Score:4, Funny)
It puzzles me when I see that people work really hard to come up with difficult passwords for their bank accounts
And do you see people coming up with such passwords often?
Most online banking systems intentionally do not even give full account or routing numbers to logged in users, and I've never seen one give out SSN or DOB either.
Hmm... you're familiar with most banking online systems?
You almost had me convinced to make a super easy bank password. Nice try, identity thief!
Re:Banking passwords are overrated (Score:4, Funny)
No, STEALING, is wrong. (Score:5, Funny)
That's wrong terminology! Passwords are not Stolen!
Look, if you have a car and I steal that car then you don't have a car anymore.
If you have a password, and I get a copy of it, then you still have your password! We can both use the password, IT'S NOT STEALING.
Re:It's really even worse than that (Score:3, Funny)
Mattresses seem to be the banking instrument of the future:
1: No overdraft fees.
2: No fees on withdrawals.
3: No fees due to having a balance under x amount.
4: Accessible 24/7, not just "banker's hours".
5: No need to worry about a username/password.
6: No ID theft can slurp your balance dry.
7: Assets can only be frozen if your heater fails.
8: Interest rate is about the same as most CDs.
9: Computer glitches won't make the balance disappear.
10: No need to give all your personal info when starting a new account.
Re:The hell it doesn't cost consumers! (Score:3, Funny)
That's exactly what TFA says. Banks like the fear of lost passwords, because they can use that fear to their (profitable) advantage:
"When perceived risk is greater than actual risk it can be protable to absorb the risk and charge for it. Rental car companies are not merely willing, but anxious to accept liability for any damage to the car for $35 a day; various companies aggressively market identity theft protection for $12 a month. Banks enjoy a huge information advantage over consumers: they know how much fraud costs them, while consumers merely hear horror stories of cyber-crime losses. Passing liability to consumers...would seem to be wasting a protable opportunity."
Protable? WTF is protable?
How can you possibly introduce a spelling mistake...TWICE...with a cut/paste?