Most secure browser for Internet Banking?

[sad_guy]

I have these browsers installed on my PC
IE10
chrome 27.0.1453.110
waterfox 18.0.1

which one should i use for internet banking?

 

[lxskllr]

I'd use Waterfox due to the robust addons for security/privacy. The core browsers should be about equal.

 

[corkyg]

I use IE (have for the last 10 years with no problems.) - but much of the security resides in the bank's software. BAC uses two layers. First, you must login to see a graphic key you can change regularly. Second, you apply a password to that graphic key. The program is also sensitive to what computer you are using. When ever I use a different one, like my laptop, it goes into security questions. When you log out, you should completely close your browser as well. USAA bank asks you to do that.

 

[Mushkins]

I'd use Waterfox due to the robust addons for security/privacy. The core browsers should be about equal.

Pretty much this. If your online banking is going to be compromised, it's most likely because of standalone malware/virus software installed on your PC, a phishing scam that requires you to directly give them access, or the banks database being compromised in some way.

The privacy addons help work the virus/malware angle as it will block or notify you of any unauthorized scripts trying to run on your browser but are not foolproof. The rest of the methods are browser agnostic.

The real question here is "how do I mitigate my avenues of potential malware infection," which is another beast entirely.

 

[Sheep221]

I think the best way to protect the internet banking is to get physical security token, grid card or sms key, basically something that will render your keylogged login credentials useless to the attacker. If you lose to the token or get it stolen, it is either useless for the thief because he don't know your login.

 

[Albatross]

Do your internet banking on a cheap laptop and use it exclusively for that.

 

[sad_guy]

Do your internet banking on a cheap laptop and use it exclusively for that.

not possible, but i use a different browser for all my porno and 4chan stuff.

Also i empty my %temp%, clear all cache, cookies etc, switch to a differrent browser, reconnect my internet and run ccleaner after each session.

close enough?

 

[lxskllr]

not possible, but i use a different browser for all my porno and 4chan stuff.

Also i empty my %temp%, clear all cache, cookies etc, switch to a differrent browser, reconnect my internet and run ccleaner after each session.

close enough?

Even better...

https://tails.boum.org/

 

[sad_guy]

thats too much of a hassle man..

 

[Sheep221]

thats too much of a hassle man..

I would recommend to just do it and stop to watch porn and read that bad stuff on /b/

 

[NickelPlate]

Another suggestion is to use a virtual machine just for banking and nothing else. I use the Windows XP mode in Windows 7 for this. It's easy to make copies of multiple VMs. Or you can run something else like VMware. That keeps it completely separate from your main PC.

 

[MontyAC]

I use Sandboxie with FF to do my banking.

 

[Mushkins]

Another suggestion is to use a virtual machine just for banking and nothing else. I use the Windows XP mode in Windows 7 for this. It's easy to make copies of multiple VMs. Or you can run something else like VMware. That keeps it completely separate from your main PC.

Doesn't stop a keylogger installed on your main OS :/ This could also actually be less secure, as your VM most likely isn't 100% up to date with the latest security patches and software updates.

 

[Nintendesert]

Browser doesn't much matter as much as keeping your system clean, don't do all your porn viewing on one you use for banking. Use malware scanners etc.

Hopefully your bank doesn't suck and uses real multifactor authentication and some out of band authentication for new or suspicious activity along with blocking access to your account from any IP or device not previously authenticated through one of the previously mentioned methods.

Security questions are trash and so are most of the other methods a lot of sites and even some banks use to authenticate users.

Know your rights too, also know your limitations. Check your statements and immediately report suspicious transactions. You have a limited time frame to do so to recover funds under Federal laws.

 

[manko]

Probably not practical, but I wonder if any banks have ever thought about having their own BankOS boot cd. The OS on disc would be read-only and it would only connect to the bank server. Of course, it would be a hassle to distribute and and update all the time.

Something like that seems like it would keep it away from anything on your day to day system, except for boot sector malware.

 

[WilliamM2]

Both my bank and credit card will make a phone call with a new security key if I try to log in from a different computer, or even the same computer with a different browser. So even if some one had my login and password, unless they are in my house to answer the phone....

 

[NickelPlate]

Doesn't stop a keylogger installed on your main OS :/ This could also actually be less secure, as your VM most likely isn't 100% up to date with the latest security patches and software updates.

Hmm well I'm not sure about the keylogger part but it's easy to keep the VM machine up to date and as long as you use it ONLY to do banking and nothing else it's plenty secure if you start with a clean VM install. But no system/scheme is infallible.

 

[John Connor]

VM's, TOR??? All stupid crap. Use Firefox and install the add-on PWDhash. It's developed by a guy from Stanford. It will do two things: A: prevent phishing and B: prevent key loggers from recording your password. It inputs the password based on a hash of the URL and your password, best of all you can use the same password for every website and PWDhash will generate a unique password. https://www.pwdhash.com/

http://crypto.stanford.edu/PwdHash/

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/pwdhash/?src=search

I would NEVER pass banking info. through TOR. If you do I would make sure the banking site is using SSL and there is an add-on called Cipherfox which will tell you.

If you go to porn sites all the time and download crap that might install malware then a VM is what you might need for that. I used to torrent in a VM only.

There is another add-on for Firefox that will scamble your keystrokes, but I can't remember the name at the moment.


Better yet. http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html

 

[Mushkins]

Hmm well I'm not sure about the keylogger part but it's easy to keep the VM machine up to date and as long as you use it ONLY to do banking and nothing else it's plenty secure if you start with a clean VM install. But no system/scheme is infallible.

Do you really want to install a dozen OS updates and then reboot the VM before being able to log in to the bank website every time?

And a keylogger on your main OS would be logging every key you press *before* it gets sent to the VM. It's a man in the middle attack whether your keystrokes are going Keyboard > Keylogger > Browser or Keyboard > Keylogger > VM > Browser.

 

[junosoftware]

Tor onion routing might be the answer?

 

[John Connor]

Like I already stated you don't want to push banking through Tor. You don't know who controls the exit nodes. If you do use it make sure your banking website uses SSL.

 

[NickelPlate]

Do you really want to install a dozen OS updates and then reboot the VM before being able to log in to the bank website every time?

And a keylogger on your main OS would be logging every key you press *before* it gets sent to the VM. It's a man in the middle attack whether your keystrokes are going Keyboard > Keylogger > Browser or Keyboard > Keylogger > VM > Browser.

I understand the keylogger bit you don't need to explain it again (that's just a matter of safe browsing habits) but you wouldn't have to install updates and reboot every time to use a VM? Setting up a VM is really easy and you only have to install all the critical updates once and then check periodically like you would any other PC. Make a copy of it and it's portable also and can be moved to another box in the event of a hardware failure. If your working VM gets FUBAR then you just make a new one or start from your updated and secure baseline VM that you made a copy of and you're good to go again in minutes. It's not that big of a deal, really.

I still maintain it's a good alternative to having a 2nd physical PC for a banking only purpose which is probably the best. But of course there's no substitute for practicing safe browsing.

 

[Netopia]

Can a keylogger intercept a copy/paste?

 

[John Connor]

Yes. Depends on the software used. I'll do you one better. Some software can take snap shots of the desktop. That's why I use PWDhash.

 

[dighn]

a VM by itself is not really any good for this. it's good for preventing the guest OS from compromising the host OS, but if your host OS is compromised to begin with then anything goes. one way to use VMs that might be secure is to install a barebone hypervisor and then do your everyday computing inside VMs, and your banking in a separate VM. this way you minimize the chance of compromising the "root" level OS. a separate physical computer is the best; a live OS image is also probably decent though keeping the software up to date can be an issue. personally i just try to be careful and use quality antivirus.