On 11 Oct 98 at 21:10, Gary Raynes wrote:

>   My bank has just started online access. They have said to use
> hyper terminal. Does anyone know if this is secure for banking
> transactions? If not, any suggestions? I have the version that
> shipped with Windows 98.

  On the one hand, using HyperTerminal suggests that they're having
you dial directly into their system without going through the net.
This will eliminate the possibility of someone at your ISP, at
theirs, or at some backbone service linking the two, from
intercepting your information.

  On the other hand, the amount of know-how and equipment that
anyone tapping your telephone would need to extract this information
is greatly reduced, and unless they provide an 800/888/877 number for
this service, they have no idea where "you" (or anyone who has
managed to guess your PIN/password) are calling from.

  It's a little bit as if the bank were to start making
pickups/deliveries using bicycle couriers.  They get robbed less
often than armoured cars, but you wouldn't really call them "secure".

David G

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