The other computer "cookie"

[Green Sub]

So you probably know about browser cookies. Those little snippets that store data for you while visiting web sites. Usually pretty easy to delete while in the browser's options menu.

Well did you know that you probably have another type of cookie on your computer? I ran across this a few years ago when trying to figure out how Bank of America knew what my initial login was even though I had deleted my browser cookies. Well Adobe Flash keeps their own type of cookie and a lot of web sites are using it for more than just saving flash info. You can see your flash cookies at this web page

http://www.macromedia.com/support/do...manager03.html

I would suggest that you consider turning off "Allow third party flash content to store data on your computer"

BTW, after deleting my flash cookies, Bank of America required me to re-authenticate my PC. And FWIW, I use Safe Pass with Bank of America. http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy...about_safepass . It really upgrades the security of on-line banking. PayPal has a similar optional security tool https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ityKey-outside

An while we are talking about banking security, did you know that business accounts in the United States do not have the same type of electronic theft insurance as personal accounts?

Check this out for more info http://krebsonsecurity.com/category/smallbizvictims/ or http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...ess_banki.html

[CoopJr]

Originally Posted by Green Sub

So you probably know about browser cookies. Those little snippets that store data for you while visiting web sites. Usually pretty easy to delete while in the browser's options menu.

Well did you know that you probably have another type of cookie on your computer? I ran across this a few years ago when trying to figure out how Bank of America knew what my initial login was even though I had deleted my browser cookies. Well Adobe Flash keeps their own type of cookie and a lot of web sites are using it for more than just saving flash info. You can see your flash cookies at this web page

http://www.macromedia.com/support/do...manager03.html

I would suggest that you consider turning off "Allow third party flash content to store data on your computer"

BTW, after deleting my flash cookies, Bank of America required me to re-authenticate my PC. And FWIW, I use Safe Pass with Bank of America. http://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy...about_safepass . It really upgrades the security of on-line banking. PayPal has a similar optional security tool https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ityKey-outside

An while we are talking about banking security, did you know that business accounts in the United States do not have the same type of electronic theft insurance as personal accounts?

Check this out for more info http://krebsonsecurity.com/category/smallbizvictims/ or http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...ess_banki.html

Nice informative post Barry...thanks. I have never, nor will I ever, bank on line.

[ducatidoc]

Originally Posted by coopjr

nice informative post barry...thanks. I have never, nor will i ever, bank on line.

+1

[BarkMaster]

Tools like CCleaner are helpful.

[Green Sub]

Banking online saved my butt last Friday.

Mrs. Green Sub is a cash manager for a Fortune 1000 company. She goes to the local branch near her office to get $5,400 out of their corporate account.

This bank allows one to swipe their ATM card for identification purposes. Just by coincidence I log on to the bank site later that morning. It usually is the first thing I do around 8:30, but for some reason it was 10:15 last Friday. The bank waives any account fees if you keep a minimum balance of $5,000, so we usually have around $6,000 in this account.

The account is at $200 plus change. OH MY GOD, I call the bank. No electronic transaction, this was a withdrawal at a branch and the money was GONE! So I go about the process of closing the account as suggested by the CSR and he also suggested I file a police report. It would take 3 business days for the bank to investigate.

I then call Mrs. Green Sub to tell her what had happened. She immediately tells me she withdrew $5,400 from the corporate account that morning and rushes back to the bank. Well you guessed it. The teller withdrew the funds from our personal account. Everything was patched up quickly, but if I had not checked the account that morning via online banking the account would have been trashed in a day or so.

And for what it's worth, we use the "My Portfolio" feature at this bank's web site and have a real time window to every transaction of all of our accounts, both at this bank and elsewhere. This even includes insurance policies, award points, and the like. I know it's scary to have all this data in one spot.

Well 2 years ago I caught a $3.00 transaction on a Master Card. It just didn't jive and I Googled the recipient. Yep, my card had been compromised and this was a test transaction and worse things were to follow. I can't tell you how nice the CSR was that I monitored my accounts so closely and notified them before any real damage was done.

BTW, if it wasn't for these Security Keys, I wouldn't trust just a username and password to protect this much information.