Trusteer?

[ahinton]

Using a different phone (i.e. one using a different telephone number).

That's the best way, yes, but 10 minutes or so usually disconnects the caller's control over the line on which he/she's called anyway; another way is to switch off and back on again the phone on which the call was received but that's not so reliable.

Also, it's better to call the bank back on a number that's different to the one from which the call was made.

[ahinton]

and your professional background to give such advice is?
twitter etc seems full of generally junk or misleading comments

Why would he need a particular professional background in order to qualify him to offer such advice (and why would I do so to offer the additional suggestions that I did?)...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

and your professional background to give such advice is?
twitter etc seems full of generally junk or misleading comments

Sorry, Frances, but are you suggesting that Anastasius' advice is "generally junk or misleading" and that someone with a "professional background" in computer use would give different advice from that which you quote?

[ahinton]

Sorry, Frances, but are you suggesting that Anastasius' advice is "generally junk or misleading" and that someone with a "professional background" in computer use would give different advice from that which you quote?

Good question; indeed, I would think it particularly unnecessary to possess a qualification and practical professional experience in IT security in order to be able to recommend that people keep their wits about them!

[Frances_iom]

Good question; indeed, I would think it particularly unnecessary to possess a qualification and practical professional experience in IT security in order to be able to recommend that people keep their wits about them!

keeping ones wits is apple pie + motherhood - the 1st is to determine what it is you want to protect against - online banking can be hardened but select a bank that gives you additional equipment to guarantee authenticity (common in Scandinavia) - if you can't have this use a USB based O/S that is loaded solely into memory each time - if you want further hardnosed advice (1) ditch Windows - win10 is probably better but it will be the target of most + windows in past has had abysmal security - Apple + Linux tho not perfect are much better - Most if not all virus checkers are a total waste of money.
(2) turn off Flash + Javascript unless totally necessary (easy with desktop Firefox) - made impossible by Google Android - complain to those sites that require it purely for tracking + eye candy - including this one that tracks if you have Javascript off (3) install an addon to Firefox like referral policy that allows you regain control of which sites you visit + stop allowing farcebook to track you everywhere .
Re email stop using Microsoft + google - accept plain text only and prevent any auto opening of attachments (a common Microsoft failing)

[ahinton]

keeping ones wits is apple pie + motherhood - the 1st is to determine what it is you want to protect against - online banking can be hardened but select a bank that gives you additional equipment to guarantee authenticity (common in Scandinavia) - if you can't have this use a USB based O/S that is loaded solely into memory each time - if you want further hardnosed advice (1) ditch Windows - win10 is probably better but it will be the target of most + windows in past has had abysmal security - Apple + Linux tho not perfect are much better - Most if not all virus checkers are a total waste of money.
(2) turn off Flash + Javascript unless totally necessary (easy with desktop Firefox) - made impossible by Google Android - complain to those sites that require it purely for tracking + eye candy - including this one that tracks if you have Javascript off (3) install an addon to Firefox like referral policy that allows you regain control of which sites you visit + stop allowing farcebook to track you everywhere .
Re email stop using Microsoft + google - accept plain text only and prevent any auto opening of attachments (a common Microsoft failing)

One can keep one's wits about one without consuming apple pie or being a female parent, the point (with which by implication you appear to agree) being that one does not have to be a qualified and experienced IT secutiry specialist in order to be able to advise doing so.

Whilst your suggestions are worthy of note, I don't see them as being any more so than those of Anastasius. No virus checker can be perfect, of course, but dispensing with any and all such in the hope of keeping viruses and the like at bay simply by adopting your suggestions seems to me to be rather far-fetched and risky. How easy is it to disable Flash + Javascript without risking interference with some things that one might reasonably want to do? One doesn't have to use Farcebook and other "social networking" facilities at all and the fact that I steer fairly well clear of using either is largely down to my fear that they can so easily be misused and abused. As to email using Microsoft (Office, which I do), I've not deliberately disabled auto opening of attachments but no attachments ever do open automatically; I have to open them manually if I want to and when I feel confident in trusting them.

I've never experienced anything adverse with my online banking. My only concern here is those who might be able to hack into my computer and sit and wait until I go online to check my banking and then seize the logon to retain it after I log off (my bank tell me that they have experienced this happening to clients); the only way to minimise the risk of this is to ensure sufficient protection at my compoeter's end, for the bank can't do anything much about that. In mentioning this, I think that it might be useful to point out that not everyone who either hacks directly into others' bank accounts or piggy-backs their way into them by the means I've just described is necessarily intent on trying to remove funds from them; sometimes people do it simply for information that they hope to be able to use against the account holder at a later date.

[Frances_iom]

...My only concern here is those who might be able to hack into my computer and sit and wait until I go online to check my banking and then seize the logon to retain it after I log off (my bank tell me that they have experienced this happening to clients);...

hence my suggestion to reload an O/S from a USB stick - doesn't matter then if your machine has been hacked with a keylogger as I'm sure you realise.

[Anastasius]

and your professional background to give such advice is?
twitter etc seems full of generally junk or misleading comments

What a helpful snide response ?

[Anastasius]

hence my suggestion to reload an O/S from a USB stick - doesn't matter then if your machine has been hacked with a keylogger as I'm sure you realise.

Depends on the type of login. My bank asks for three digits chosen at random from my security word. So even if my computer was hacked with a keylogger sitting there monitoring my every stroke, it wouldn't help them.

However I fully expect Frances IOM to come along with another 'helpful' comment.

[Bryn]

Depends on the type of login. My bank asks for three digits chosen at random from my security word. So even if my computer was hacked with a keylogger sitting there monitoring my every stroke, it wouldn't help them.

However I fully expect Frances IOM to come along with another 'helpful' comment.

With one of my online financial services providers not only does one enter 3 chosen digits, to circumvent keystroke loggers, one selects the digits with mouse or touchpad.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Yes because they can stay on the line keeping it open, and when you next pick up the phone they play a dialling tone etc, so they are able to continue the hoax.

I confess: in a dozy state I nearly got taken in by an internet hoax the other day. My antivirus software popped up and asked me what did I think I was doing!

I understand steps have been taken by BT to thwart this 'keep the line open' trick: putting your own phone down should be enough to cut the line.

This was a direct response to the scammer trick. Can't say it works for all landline phones or that it is fully in effect throughout the UK yet, but I do have some 'professional background' for reporting this (Frances_iom) - as a trading standards officer.

PS some corroboration! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34714531 I'd suggest you try a call to another phone within reach to see if it is already working for you. Still keep your wits about you though - scammers are extremely clever, and of course an example to us all for perseverance, innovation and attention to detail

[Frances_iom]

I understand steps have been taken by BT to thwart this 'keep the line open' trick: putting your own phone down should be enough to cut the line.

This was a direct response to the scammer trick. Can't say it works for all landline phones or that it is fully in effect throughout the UK yet, but I do have some 'professional background' for reporting this (Frances_iom) - as a trading standards officer.
...:

allowing the caller to hold the line even if the called put the phone down was required for the older type of secretary/boss phones which would put a break on the line during the transfer, likewise houses having two phones a short holding time would allow one phone to be put down and another picked up - I also understand that some of the older alarm or help systems needed caller hold. However the long caller hold time did allow this scam - a better scheme would be to freely allow caller id on all lines(most phones are set up to show this) and to implement a scheme that blocks scammer generated calling numbers to impersonate other lines - all technically possible but involves BT losing revenue so won't happen unless legally forced to

[LeMartinPecheur]

allowing the caller to hold the line even if the called put the phone down was required for the older type of secretary/boss phones which would put a break on the line during the transfer, likewise houses having two phones a short holding time would allow one phone to be put down and another picked up - I also understand that some of the older alarm or help systems needed caller hold. However the long caller hold time did allow this scam - a better scheme would be to freely allow caller id on all lines(most phones are set up to show this) and to implement a scheme that blocks scammer generated calling numbers to impersonate other lines - all technically possible but involves BT losing revenue so won't happen unless legally forced to

I wouldn't put too much faith in caller ID. Scammers are adept at putting up a number that may look like a UK one, but they're still calling from Asia.

Also worth pointing out is that in the UK we can all get the local code we want now. (Don't ask me why this is seen as a useful facility by BT) This means that an advert on local media (including eye-catching signs on lamp-posts!) with a local phone number,advertising say driveways or roof repairs with maybe a 10-yr guarantee, can still be a few guys in a van with no local premises who will be off up-country and completely untraceable in just a few weeks.

So use real local traders that you've thoroughly checked out, preferably via the Buy With Confidence scheme if you have it in your area.

[ahinton]

I wouldn't put too much faith in caller ID. Scammers are adept at putting up a number that may look like a UK one, but they're still calling from Asia.

Also worth pointing out is that in the UK we can all get the local code we want now. (Don't ask me why this is seen as a useful facility by BT) This means that an advert on local media (including eye-catching signs on lamp-posts!) with a local phone number,advertising say driveways or roof repairs with maybe a 10-yr guarantee, can still be a few guys in a van with no local premises who will be off up-country and completely untraceable in just a few weeks.

So use real local traders that you've thoroughly checked out, preferably via the Buy With Confidence scheme if you have it in your area.

It is certainly poossible to port one's landline phone number anywhere in UK and also elsewhere if one chooses to do so. I know becuase I've done this myself. It causes some confusion sometimes when people say that I have a "Bath phone number" becuase its "area" code is 01225; it was once a "Bath phone number" but hasn't been so since I relocated from there. An "area code" in a phone number is therefore no indication of where that hone is located and hasn't been so for years.

[LeMartinPecheur]

It is certainly poossible to port one's landline phone number anywhere in UK and also elsewhere if one chooses to do so. I know becuase I've done this myself. It causes some confusion sometimes when people say that I have a "Bath phone number" becuase its "area" code is 01225; it was once a "Bath phone number" but hasn't been so since I relocated from there. An "area code" in a phone number is therefore no indication of where that hone is located and hasn't been so for years.

I can understand 'porting' to keep one's old home phone number. What I'm much less happy about is a businessman in Norfolk getting a St Austell (say) phone number without any roots in the place. Perhaps the thin end of this wedge was national companies that genuinely served the whole country wanting to look 'local' in every area: still a bit of a porky but not an actionable one.