Online Billpay Provider Loses Control of Domains 232
An anonymous reader writes "Several sites are running a story about a domain hijacking at Checkfree, the largest provider of online bill payment services to numerous banks and credit unions. According to Network Solutions, someone logged in to the domain administration page using Checkfree's account, and redirected its domains to a site in the Ukraine configured to serve up malware to unsuspecting users." Things like this make me nervous about switching to otherwise-tempting online bill payment, but checks are dangerous, too.
At least this time... (Score:2)
...someone (apparently) didn't manage to socially engineer Network Solutions. That's happened at least a few times that I can recall...
Re:At least this time... (Score:4, Funny)
Epic Fail (Score:5, Funny)
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Can you elaborate on that? What choices do you like and why?
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"...there are far better choices for online payment processing."
Can you elaborate on that? What choices do you like and why?
Basically all the services I subscribe to here in Ontario, Canada support some form of online payment. Many (most) support payment by credit card which affords me the protections of my credit card while at the same time accruing reward points for the dollars spent. I then pay my credit cards from my online banking portal which employs three or four layers of security.
I find myself constantly amazed (amused?) by the apparent differences between Canadian and American business models. The check card versus d
Summary's analysis doesn't make much sense. (Score:2)
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If there were a Slashdot feature to transfer money out of your bank account...
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Summary's analysis doesn't make much sense. (Score:5, Informative)
The /. HTML was hijacked, and odd jumpy misaligned CSS was put up instead ;-)
Re:Summary's analysis doesn't make much sense. (Score:5, Funny)
If there were a Slashdot feature to transfer money out of your bank account...
It's called 'subscription'
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If someone hijacked slashdot's domain, they could use it to transfer money out of your account by using cross-site request forgery (CSRF).
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I think GP made the mistake of reading TFA:
"CheckFree spokeswoman Melanie Tolley said users who visited the sites during the attack would have been redirected to a blank page that tried to install malware."
As GP says, this can happen at any hijacked site, financial-oriented or not.
But yes, one can imagine redirecting to a copycat site and stealing someone's financial info. Frighteningly, I use Checkfree for one utility bill, because for that utility, it is the only way to pay the bill other than by check a
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Why would that matter?
The attackers routed checkfree.com to a blank page. This wasn't a phishing attack. They didn't replicate checkfree's site and try to get you to send money or give them your checkfree password. They showed you a blank page, and you would say "what the heck? Where's checkfree?"
But while you were saying "Where's checkfree", your computer was being infected with malware, which would intercept your usernames/passwords. Maybe to checkfree, or maybe to some unrelated site.
Why is that mod
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This could happen for any trusted website, even Slashdot.
Slashdot is a trusted website?
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Slashdot is my trusted supplier of Goatse and GNAA trolling!
Checks are dangerous too? Better avoid money xfer (Score:4, Funny)
Obviously, the only safe solution is to not pay... what, that has problems too?!?
As a customer.... (Score:5, Interesting)
Posting anonymously so I don't get sued.
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Odds are that someone there accessed netsol from an
machine infected with a keylogger.
It was therefore likely caused by their own ineptitude
in using a windows machine for administration.
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Re:As a customer.... FYI: (Score:2)
Or linux and firefox. [slashdot.org]
FYI:
SYMPTOMS: Presence of the: "%ProgramFiles%\Mozilla Firefox\plugins\npbasic.dll" [slashdot.org] Not linux unless you're running the win32 version in wine.
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I work at UMass Amherst and I'm trying to get this implemented
What would you get sued for? Stating a fact? Surely the US has not gone that crazy (although, I agree, from the news reports and stuff people in the US sue at the drop of a penny).
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As another "customer" (CheckFree is the backend for our billpay vendor), I can confirm that they handled this incredibly poorly.
Their notifications to us were vague and delayed. They were full of technical inaccuracies. One email referred to the "DNS routing tables". Another said that customers without "Adobe installed" wouldn't be affected. (Adobe ____?)
We were given misleading information about the nature of the malware, and calls seeking more information were never returned. Apparently there was an Adobe
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Not that I blame you for posting anonymously, but truth [wikipedia.org] is the best defense against defamation.
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I'm sorry, maybe Checkfree handled it poorly, but they're not the ones ultimately to blame here I think. Look at every high-profile domain hijacking that'
Benefits of Paper Checks (Score:5, Interesting)
Things like this make me nervous about switching to otherwise-tempting online bill payment, but checks are dangerous, too.
I'm one of those holdouts who still use paper checks, envelopes, and stamps to pay my bills. Once a month or so I'll bring the stack into the office and take care of it during downtime, and folks look at me like I'm transmitting morse code over a telegraph. I do bank online, but I don't do online bill pay.
One reason I still cling to checks is that they allow me to be the final arbiter and gatekeeper of my money, and I have better fiscal responsibility when I'm directly involved in disbursement. Each time I physically write out a check, there's a bit of mental bookkeeping that takes place. You can't sit down and write "One thousand one hundred ninety-eight and 32/100" without pausing for a moment to think, holy shit, that's X% of my paycheck. If you elect not to use online bill pay, you have to actually look at your credit card statements each month, instead of just setting up a $200 monthly ACH and ignoring the current total.
I'm afraid that if I set everything up to be paid automatically, I'd very quickly wake up to discover that my checking account is overdrawn because I wasn't paying enough attention. Writing checks and licking envelopes is my way of keeping tabs on what's going out the door each month. The potential security benefits don't hurt, as anyone screwing around with mailed bills faces the wrath of the United States Postal Inspection Service. Unlike most online fraud, fucking with the mails will actually get you in trouble, and USPIS doesn't blow you off if you haven't suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses.
I do miss the one benefit that physical checks had up until a couple of years ago, the float. Check21 pretty much ruined that, but maybe it was for the better. Come to think of it, I haven't overdrafted since Check21.
Long live the check, just stay away from my routing numbers.
Re:Benefits of Paper Checks (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, you can pay online without making it automatic.
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That was my thought too... it's a 'throw the baby out with the bathwater' thing.
Firstly, as an Australian I am CONSTANTLY amazed at the US's continued reliance on cheques (yes, that's how the rest of the world spells it). When I lived there for a while in 2001 I was amazed that I couldn't pay the majority of my bills online at all, even if I wanted to. The time consuming, paper wasting, overly complex and error prone thing of handling all those cheques is just insane.
I pay all my bills electronically via th
Aging brain dead old Re:Benefits of Paper Checks (Score:4, Interesting)
The current bill payers in America are getting old.
The credit card companies have a stranglehold on paying by any form of credit card.
Paypal is evil.
There is no nationally accepted payment system where someone or both do not get gouged some fee. Checks are one of the few ways both parties can avoid some of the fees though I've heard that banks are starting to jack up the cost of processing them.
Our banks do not cater to customers, they are hind bound and greedy. They won't do anything unless they can screw their customers or the government for money.
When the banks finally get less incompetent they might be able to pry online payments and credit cards away from the major credit card companies. It won't happen soon because of the long term incestuous symbiotic relationship they have.
Re:Aging brain dead old Re:Benefits of Paper Check (Score:4, Informative)
Bank of America allows you to pay online via systems that accept it, and mail checks to those who don't. Strangely enough, most of the people I pay bills to here in Massachusetts accept digital billpay through whatever system they use. But even paper checks are automatic and free.
BofA is a bunch of greedy bastards, yet they found a way to make it worthwile and simple. It's slowly filtering over to America.
It's like Cellphones: Companies don't feel like they can change one territory in the US at a time... they have to go all or nothing. So we get systems 10 years after the rest of the world has piecemeal brought themselves into it. Otherwise nationwide rollouts are untennable.
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Also having moved recently from
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I pay my US Bank CC bill with automatic withdrawal from my WAMU/CHASE bank account. Not sure what state your in, maybe it's a local thing... or maybe it's only if you already have a US Bank checking account, I do not.
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The credit card companies have a stranglehold on paying by any form of credit card.
Well, yeah. Kinda like how the car companies have a "stranglehold" on car production.
It just goes to show how uncompetitive America is - you can only buy things from people that sell them.
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In Britain you can make a payment to pretty much any account, except for some savings accounts, by BACS, provided you know the sort code and account number. And pretty much any bank with an online banking service will let you do this online.
You can make payments internationally using SWIFT if you have the IBAN number. Generally you can't do this online because most of the phising attacks come from other countries, and most people don't make international payments as a matter of course.
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Did anyone notice that the major telco's changed their BPay numbers AND client reference numbers recently? Or are they just trying to fuck me over. The whole BPay system works, but if I wasn't an anal retentive bastard I wouldn't have noticed and just relied on the numbers stored in my banks details for the payments.
Direct debit IS widely available in the US (Score:2)
The more I read about the USA the more it appears that apart from a bit of glitz around New York and LA, the whole place is like some backward 3rd world country populated by peasants in SUVs demanding that their way is right and everyone else is out of step.
NICE troll. Complete nonsense only a moron would actually believe and a bigger moron would say but a nice troll nonetheless. If you naively think the US is populated by "peasants" outside of NYC and LA, then it's clear you don't understand how the US achieved the largest economy in the world.
Direct debit IS used heavily [wikipedia.org] in the US - just not as heavily as some other places. Direct deposit of paychecks, bill payments, social security, tax refunds/payments, and others are all commonly made via ACH payments.
Re:Benefits of Paper Checks (Score:4, Interesting)
Just what I was thinking...
My wife and I (she's the math major and very detail oriented) pay bills online, manually. I don't like "automatic" because it's easy to set up, but difficult to stop. I'm not sure I see any big difference between writing "1000" on a slip of paper (which is not legal tender) or putting numbers into a field on a form.
I also can't imagine anyone not reconciling their bank and credit card statements against their records each month. We keep a detailed budget that shows every transaction (credit, checking or cash) and we reconcile the bank and credit card statements against it each month. As frequently as banks screw up, it just makes sense.
Of course, our money is in a credit union, not a big national bank, so I like to think we get better service when we do have an issue. It's certainly much better than other big banks where we've had accounts *cough-citibank-*cough and had terrible service.
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I don't like "automatic" because it's easy to set up, but difficult to stop. I'm not sure I see any big difference between writing "1000" on a slip of paper (which is not legal tender)
What are you talking about? Of course it's legal tender. If you don't think it's legal then feel free to send me a check for $22000 so I can buy a new graphics card. Thanks.
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Really, when I applied for my firearms permit I was told by the officer that my payment must be made in the form of money order or cashiers check. No cash would be accepted.
I wonder if I could of sued them and made them take cash.
Refusing legal tender (Score:2)
Really, when I applied for my firearms permit I was told by the officer that my payment must be made in the form of money order or cashiers check. No cash would be accepted.
Some forms of legal tender can be refused in some jurisdictions if there was not a pre-existing debt obligation prior to the time of the transaction. That's why for example gas stations can legally refuse large denomination bills. If you had to pay at the time of the transaction then they probably were within their rights to restrict forms of payment. Annoying but probably legal.
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I also can't imagine anyone not reconciling their bank and credit card statements against their records each month. We keep a detailed budget that shows every transaction (credit, checking or cash) and we reconcile the bank and credit card statements against it each month. As frequently as banks screw up, it just makes sense.
There are quite a few stores and restaurants in Boston that give you a hard time concerning your receipt. At the McDonald's on Washington Street, for example, the employees crumple up and throw away your receipt instead of offering it to you. When you ask for your receipt, they give you dirty looks and print up another one. When asked why they don't just offer the receipts to their customers like any good business does, they avoid the question and ask the next person for their order. (I know, I know, I expe
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You raise an excellent point. However, they (typically) stop sending paper bills in favor of email notices once you start paying them online. With postfix and spamassassin, email occasionally gets misflagged, misfoldered, or otherwise misrouted. Forgetting that a certain bill is due, or not receiving the email notice for some reason, is IMO even worse than having an automatic payment set up. The physical paper bill is just as much a part of my fiscal
You're paying from the wrong source (Score:2)
You raise an excellent point. However, they (typically) stop sending paper bills in favor of email notices once you start paying them online.
Why would "they" do that if you do not use "them" for payments. How do they know or care where payments come from if you do not set up up with them?
Get a bank that allows you as many free online payments as you would like, and just pay from your account - just like a real check, only online. They either send a real check or pay electronically, depending on what they
Actually... (Score:2)
Actually, about a month ago I would have thought this, too. I use mycheckfree (got a little shock at first when the article said checkfree) to pay several utilities. They don't take credit cards, and I wanted to rack up cashback by putting the utility on the card (which I always pay on time).
So I went to the utility's website and clicked to sign up to their own payment system. They give me a screen saying something like "We see you're already signed up with another bill paying service to pay our bill. C
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You raise an excellent point. However, they (typically) stop sending paper bills in favor of email notices once you start paying them online. With postfix and spamassassin, email occasionally gets misflagged, misfoldered, or otherwise misrouted. Forgetting that a certain bill is due, or not receiving the email notice for some reason, is IMO even worse than having an automatic payment set up. The physical paper bill is just as much a part of my fiscal responsibility process as is the physical paper check.
Question; you know a bill is going to arrive every month, typically on the same day each month. You further know that you must pay said bill every month, typically the same amount at the same time. Why is it excusable to neglect to pay said bill not only once, but perchance to make a habit of not doing so?
In more than a decade of managing my finances I've managed to miss exactly two monthly payments. One was a miscommunication with the person with whom I shared the loan who believed I was supposed to be m
Tax ramifications (Score:5, Insightful)
Each time I physically write out a check, there's a bit of mental bookkeeping that takes place. You can't sit down and write "One thousand one hundred ninety-eight and 32/100" without pausing for a moment to think, holy shit, that's X% of my paycheck.
This is exactly why people should have to pay income tax instead of having it automatically deducted.
If everyone actually had to write that fat check out, they might begin to care about elections and the state of the world.
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Heh.
If everyone knew about the additional cut that the Feds are getting from your employer's payroll funds...
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Anyone who's self-employed finds out about that cut, usually sometime before April 15, when they fill out their taxes and discover how much they're screwed over.
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Sign EXtend for converting a number stored in twos compliment format to a larger data size.
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Yeah, fuck Check21.
I still gotta wait 5 days for an out of state check to clear, but the damn check I wrote a business 3 states away clears overnight? Fuck, not cool.
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I'm one of those holdouts who still use paper checks, envelopes, and stamps to pay my bills
FWIW, in the US you get federal protection when using the Post Office / first class mail. Not use what (if any) legal protection you get using the WEB for paying bills Jack
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I pay my bills manually for the same reason that you do, but I do pay some of them online by BACS rather than post a cheque because there is less chance of the payment going missing or being delayed.
I live in England, so some of the terms used are a bit different to what you have in your posting.
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I had a guy walk into my bank and turn over a check with my account number on it (and nothing at all like my signature) and I lost five hundred bucks and couldn't sort out a way to convince them that it wasn't my signature so give me my darned money back. I ended up losing the money. I probably could have fought more, but you have no idea how miserable and frustrating this was - as far as the bank was concerned, they had a signed check so they turned over cash so it was done.
As near as I can tell, there i
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I pay mine through my banks online bill paying service; no automatic debits (except for the mortgage), I can sit down and figure out what needs to be spent where at what time.
I'm with you regarding letting people pull money out of my bank account without my knowledge, but you can still do away with the stamps.
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I'm one of those holdouts who still use paper checks, envelopes, and stamps to pay my bills. Once a month or so I'll bring the stack into the office and take care of it during downtime, and folks look at me like I'm transmitting morse code over a telegraph. I do bank online, but I don't do online bill pay.
Ugh! A stack of bills alone is enough to make me cringe in horror. I used to do that until I realized I'd collected an enormous 4" thick sheaf of stapled statements that required a physical filing system and manual parsing. Now I have everything organized chronologically going back several years in a sub-folder off my home directory which is backed up weekly.
Now every two weeks, on pay day, I sit at my computer, download all available PDF statements and update my budget spreadsheet with my cheque amount a
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You could get the best of both worlds by using online bill pay services but not setting up _automatic_ payments. That's what I do. The system tells me when a bill comes in, and then I log in and pay it by typing in a number and choosing a date to send it. (I have only one bill that comes to my house any more.)
Some of the payments are sent electronically. Some are sent by check. It depends on the bill. Comcast takes electronic funds transfers. My gardener doesn't.
That way I am in touch with every cent that l
Some more details... (Score:5, Informative)
Anyhow, what I know is that the malware is new and still being analyzed -- they're not fully sure what it's for yet (capturing accounts, spamming, botnet, or probably all of the above). For now they are recommending that people udate their virus scanners and Acrobat Reader. They must suspect Acrobat as an infection vector somehow.
Single point of failure (Score:2)
It seems to me that part of the problem is that too many websites that service too many customers are all using a *single* payment service. Hijack that one payment service, and you can potentially hit 10's of millions of customers.
I don't see why giant national banks, and even mid-size regional banks, can create their *own* online payment services. Heck, they might even be able to generate new streams of revenue for themselves, instead of giving all that revenue to Checkfree. If nothing else, it helps to li
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Here in Australia the BPay system is ubiquitous.
Every online banking system I've used has a 'pay bills' function, that lets you plug in the BPay details (biller, account code) and pay the bill that way.
As it's a standard approach, you can pay your bills from any bank.
As it's using your actual online banking, it's not a single target.
BPay is wonderful, the US really needs an equivalent.
Don't be stupid... (Score:3, Informative)
True, my financial institution (US Bank) may or may not be to blame, HOWEVER, you'd think it wouldn't take a bank a full day to let users know or take away the bill pay link or something along those lines. When I saw the invalid certificate, I still needed to cancel an automatic payment so I decided to contact my bank. Their response was basically, "we take security very seriously, please make sure you're using a compatible browser, move along now, nothing here to see." It wasn't until at least a day later that they notified users when logging in that bill pay was down. I wonder how many users clicked through during that one day period, which could have easily been prevented by a faster response?
Don't be stupid...Most users are. (Score:3, Interesting)
Not a banking issue (Score:2, Interesting)
I've been involved w/ online/PC banking for 15 years or so and can tell you it's been a huge time + postage savings for me. I have no idea what the cost of a stamp is because the only reason I'd ever need them is for bills. Give
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oh the irony... (Score:2, Funny)
i 3 usa (Score:5, Informative)
When I was 16, I discovered that with a ruler, an exacto knife, and some elmer's glue you could make up your own checks. They also had "MAC Check" machines that would scan a check - even from a non-customer - and cash them.
When I was 19, I worked in a junk mail plant that at times printed the 25% interest rate personal checks that credit card companies send out to new cardholders. All night we would watch "CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW $100,000 CREDIT LIMIT!" with 6 checks attached go whizzing by at 5MPH. When that roll of checks breaks, printed-but-junk checks dump on the floor, 7 feet per second, and if I wanted, I could pocket the sonsabitches and spend like hell - before the recipient even activated their new card. We sent those out, too.
Can our banking system really be that insecure? I open an account based on a supposedly unique ID number, hand them a photo ID that doesn't even reference my SSN. Then, they give me another number - my account number - and tell me to keep it private. Three weeks later, I get my checks that ten minimum wage slaves have already gotten to see. Every check I hand out has my private account number printed at the bottom.
Most banks hold you responsible for any automated clearing house fraud, and yet, to authorize a transfer out, all that is needed are the numbers at the bottom of every personal check you write and the "assurance" from the receiving institution that you have "authorized the transfer".
When ya think about it, it's no wonder they charge you $2 to withdraw from an ATM, $3 to use a teller, and $35 for an overdraft - it's easier to roll the dice to get an account number than it is to roll the dice and win the lottery!
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Most banks hold you responsible for any automated clearing house fraud
Hmm, I was under the impression that NACHA [nacha.org] says that consumers have 60 days to challenge an unauthorized ACH debit. Bank of America certainly didn't hassle me at all when I reported four counterfeit checks totalling about $1400 drawn from my account (two were processed the old-fashioned way, two were converted to ACH debits). They credited me the two paper checks immediately. For the ACH conversions, I had to send in an affidavit saying the debits were unauthorized, and they credited me about a week later.
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ATM fees and non-secure checking are why I think direct deposit "paychecks" should be outlawed.
Then avoid the Church's corporation... They pay their employees using Skylight. [skylight.net] To get your money, you have to pay an ATM fee. No way to transfer money, no customer service worth a darn. Direct deposit isn't bad if implemented properly, but these guys really missed the boat... and their security? Pitifully picture-based.
Checkfree? (Score:3, Informative)
My gas company offered the option of using Checkfree.
Had I opted in, it cost an additional 8$ to pay with my credit card, rather than sending in a personal check.
Instead I just use US Banks online Billpay option. Free, and cuts out the middle man.
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If I'm not mistaken, US Bank uses Checkfree as the middle man!
Payment processing and aggregation isn't simple. (Who do you send the check to? How do you aggregate ACH transactions to save money versus mailing hundreds of paper checks? How do you get electronic versions of the bills from the creditor if requested by your customer?)
Many banks and bill pay providers use Checkfree because they take care of the details. You can
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Our local DMV has an extra charge if you use credit cards instead of cash or check. Someone should read their CC processing agreement aloud to them so that they will realize that they are in violation.
Use a better registrar (Score:4, Informative)
Domain registrars come in several tiers.
MarkMonitor is in the business of protecting "brands", so they have lawyers and technicians on staff to swing into action if somebody pulls something. If you have to ask how much they cost, you can't afford them.
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I think GANDI [gandi.net] have a good model. Their ethic is that they pretty much sell at cost. The service is great. I am just a customer, I'm not affiliated to them in any way.
Network Solutions have a long history of slightly bizarre business practices. Just because they're more expensive, the ultimate product (an entry in a DB that points to your DNS servers) is ridiculously cheap when you have big volume and decent automation. MarkMonitor add value by protecting you, maybe they're good. NetSol add marketing glitz v
Wire transfer (Score:4, Interesting)
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Have you looked at all the people rationalizing their use of paper checks in the comments? That's one reason (or rather a symptom of the same reason).
Truly, the US is way behind a lot of the rest of the world in payments. We're getting there (I work in the payment industry), and banks and other FIs are adopting more payment strategies over time, but we as a country are perhaps too(?) conservative on these things.
Too, we don't (yet?) have only 3-5 gigundus "country banks" in the country like a lot do, nor
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The fees for wire transfers out of your accounts generally range from $20 to $30 per transaction.
Perhaps that's the reason?
The US isn't Europe (Score:2)
Why don't Americans use wire transfer more often? In Europe it is a fast and relatively safe method.
Lots of reasons.
The Solution is IBAN (Score:2)
Actually Europe does have a single system for bank transfers (IBAN [wikipedia.org]). It's even been adopted by other countries outside Europe (Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Mauritius etc.)
"The IBAN was originally developed to facilitate payments within the European Union but the format is flexible enough to be applied globally. Custo
Checks here is not accepted anymore (Score:2, Interesting)
More secure pages... (Score:3, Informative)
Interestingly, a few months ago, my financial services company (Merrill Lynch) changed the way their online login works to make this attack very hard. They required me to select an image from a large catalog, and a phrase I made up to go with it. Now, when I log in, I am presented the image and the phrase. Since these images come from a huge catalog, and the phrase is entirely up to the user, the probability that a hijacked page would have the same information is very small. In effect, the site is presenting _me_ with a pasword, before I present it with a password. (Cue, on 3, In Soviet Russia, sites log onto you)
I think this makes these pages fairly secure against the various DNS and other redirect attacks people have come up with. Someone would have to get very deep access to the main server, to figure out the image everyone chose, to successfully hijack a site.
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That sounds like the OpenId system honestly, kind of funny - I'm sure of course that it isn't using that at all, but the idea seems similar.
Considering how many times this always needs to be implemented on so many sites, I wonder how there isn't an OpenSSL, OpenSSh, equivalent library for web-login stuff of a drop in that is that is insanely secure... I guess the whole mess of PHP, JSP, and other bloody scripting frame works is really the problem? And the interaction with the insane user databases that c
Re:More secure pages... (Score:4, Informative)
Someone figured that out, and some sites now register your IP address or a cookie and if it is different they ask you for your mother's maiden name or whatnot. Guess what? My IP address and cookies change all the time. So now I have my mother's maiden name and favorite movie flowing around everywhere, and malicious sites can simply pass these questions and answers on, then get to the serious business of forwarding the pictures, then get involved in the boring financial transactions.
Major differences (Score:2)
There certainly are major differences between the US and Europe in terms of banking. I have never even heard of a "bill paying" service before, when I want to pay my bills I log on to my bank.
In fact I don't actually receive invoices in the mail any longer, they're all automatically available in my bank regardless of what bank I use or who sent the invoice. And I don't mean PDFs in the email either, I'm one click away from paying/scheduling the bill.
It's probably another case of Americans getting screwed by
Not Security Related (Score:2)
Read my comment again, I never once claimed anything related to security.
My point was that I found it strange to have to use a third party to pay your bills. I never said it was safer, just simpler and more effective. It would however reduce the number of potential unsafe websites you have to visit to get your business done.
European banks work closer together from what I have read (and experienced), transfers are more easily done between banks and countries now than
Re:DNS Hijacking (Score:5, Interesting)
Funny thing is it's a step back for Network Solutions security. You USED to be able to set it up to require a RSA key for domain changes, back when everything was done via odd forms over email.
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This is a feature I also miss. They had a PGP keyserver, and you uploaded your PGP public key you wanted associated with the account. Then, you filled out the funky form that you E-mailed in, signed it with the key, and sent it in.
I know this probably can't be done now, but instead, why not offer keyfobs similar to SecurID? PayPal, eBay, a number of banks, heck, even Blizzard offer this feature, so a compromised password isn't the end of the world.
People use hardware devices to make sure their SSL keys a
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
You *do* realize that all of those banks allow an attacker to access your account without the keyfob, right? They just need to call the bank, impersonate you (often by simply using the password they keylogged in the first place) and claim they lost it (or just use the automated phone service at most banks, which accepts your password without the added key).
In this specific case, the vulnerability was just that the attacker had to upload his key in your name before you got around to it - but that was still
Re:DNS Hijacking (Score:5, Insightful)
This seems to be what happens when any business tries to implement any sort of account security. It has to be made so it can be easily bypassed, or you end up with customers mad at the company because they locked themselves or relatives/family out and the company wont allow them to simply go through on their word they are authorized. It's like they don't know how to see how it looks from the company's point of view.
Build a better lock, and they'll build a better idiot.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Nothing anywhere is completely safe. Everything you own is up for grabs at any point in time by anyone who wants it bad enough. Best course of action I can think of is to buy a gun."
What if what they want really badly is your gun? By your own admission, "Everything you own is up for grabs at any point in time by anyone who wants it bad enough." That would include the gun, seems like.
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How's a gun going to help against some Ukrainian hijacking your DNS?
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True, but if they grab your gun before you do, then your gun could increase rather than decrease the risk to your safey.
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Also true if you shot yourself in the head with your gun.
What was your point again?
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That's a little difficult getting it out of the holster I'm wearing....I do like to carry a concealed weapon (or two) on me you know....
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you young whippersnappers... back in my day we didn't have a uniform currency. we had to invent our own money using clam shells and animal scat. the rear end of an incontinent mammoth was our ATM machine.
oh, and we were happy to have it--up hill, both ways, in the snow, barefoot, with a full orchestra strapped to our backs, and Roman phalanxes chasing us the entire way while the orchestra played Wagner to goad them on.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Mod the parent up. Seriously. So what if he is an Anonymous Coward. frick'in stupid moderators. :P
What is so wrong paying cash? For example, I have a AT&T dsl account that I'm "suppose" to have
a CC attached to it for payment. Wtf? Why should I have to go through these loopholes to pay my bill?
Do I have options to pay the account locally? Yes, I finally found that out. Automated payments are
evil, end of story. When has it became so evil to pay by cash? If I can't have a option to pay by
cash, without loo
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. But I dropped them fast when they refused to let me send alimony payments through their service. I thought it very unprofessional of them... just imagine a bank having arbitrary restrictions like that.