Ubuntu

safty of doing netbanking in ubuntu

Asked by Prasun Kar

How safe is ubuntu regarding netbanking? Do ineed to install a professional version of internet security suite?

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Marc Stewart (marc.stewart) said : 		#1

Safe enough. In fact I've read of many people using the Live CD to do their internet banking, so there's no trace at all left behind on the computer and no chance of software keyloggers, although I think that's overly paranoid. So long as you follow the usual precautions*, internet banking with Ubuntu is just fine, and certainly safer than Windows.

* Use a strong password. Don't reveal it to anyone else or write it down.
Only use computers you trust not to have keylogging devices/software on them.
Don't follow any old link to the bank's website. Type the address yourself, or use a bookmark yourself
And so on.

As far as internet security suites are concerned, they're not as necessary in Ubuntu, but certainly don't hurt.

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GREG T. (ubuntuer) said : 		#2

i `ve been doing o nline banking for three years with ubuntu and never had a problem .

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Peter Bomars (pbomars) said : 		#3

Essentially, Internet Banking is safe. MUCH safer than walking to the bank (depending on where you live) as long as certain precautions are met -

1) NEVER trust any financial site that does not use SSL, at a minimum. http://www.verisign.com/ssl/ssl-information-center/ is the company that does most of the internet SSL licensing in North America. It is a great resource into what SSL is and how it protects you. Even if your financial institution uses a different company or does their own security, the details are essentially the same.

2) NEVER trust anyone around you. If you are in a public place, assume that people are looking over your shoulder. This may not be true, but better safe than sorry.

3) In the US, we have laws that ensure that you risk very little in transactions using a bank or credit card. If you are not in the US, I would advise you to consult your government's banking regulations. Most countries have websites that spell out who is responsible for what in words that anyone can understand. You could ask your local library for a book or pamphlet explaining your rights and responsibilities. That being said, remember that in the end, your assets are always your responsibility to protect.

These are general computing guidelines and not Ubuntu-Specific.

Remember that Ubuntu is an operating system and has little to do other than providing the medium of a transaction in the browser and supporting the browser's features. It is no more or less SPECIFICALLY secure than any other operating system.

I think that a better question may be "Is <whatever browser I choose to use> safe?".

Again, look at SSL and your national banking customer rights and trust NO one.

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Tom (tom6) said : 		#4

Hi :)

Ubuntu (and all other versions of linux) are very much safer than most other Operating Systems because it is very unlikely to have any malware on the system.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Antivirus

Also it is much harder for a remote attacker to gain any kind of control of a linux system or even to spy on it. Linux systems refuse to allow ActiveX controls which have often featured in news stories about compromised systems and remote attackers gaining access to critically confidential information.

That wouldn't stop someone from looking over your shoulder! So banking from internet cafes and such like would require more care about personal space and erasing histories using
Edit - Preferences - Privacy - "Clear now"
on a firefox web-browser.

All the previous comments are very valid though, ignoring malware and such like. The main likely access for a remote attacker is through your web-browser. While FireFox is safer than most it could theoretically still be possible to have gained an "AddOn" that may try to feed information to someone outside of your system. This is why many linux security experts would recommend using a LiveCd session
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD
because the system would be fresh each time you used it and no details of the session would remain on the machine after a reboot.

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)

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Best Tom (tom6) said : 		#5

Hi again :)

I initially wanted to say that there is probably no need to install additional security and there are not many relevant genuine products out there for linux anyway.

Linux, especially Ubuntu but also the other big names and others, has extremely tight security built-in. There is a firewall built-in and people only install "FireStarter" (or something similar) in order to switch off certain features if they are having trouble accessing their networks.

Windows builds a system and then adds security afterwards, bolted on as an after-thought. Linux starts with security and then tries to add functionality. While many people and companies profit from selling security for Windows systems no-one has managed to make much profit from security products for linux systems. As a result there is almost no malware that can run in linux but all kinds of security problems are rife in Windows.

Regards from
Tom :)

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Prasun Kar (kar-prasun) said : 		#6

Thanks Tom, that solved my question.

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Tom (tom6) said : 		#7

Hi :)

You're welcome :) I was going to try to find some relevant articles in ZdNet and places but never really got around to it. Sorry about that. Hopefully we have pointed out most of the issues :) I think there are specific details about why linux is safer that are far beyond my knowledge-base at the moment.

Good luck & take care, regards from
Tom :)