Choosing an Online Account Aggregator

Rufus_Dufus

mrviner wrote: »

So does First Direct (like Egg) use ActiveX, i.e. require IE then? Are there any services that don't use ActiveX/Internet Explorer? If so what do they use on the client side?

First Direct uses ActiveX. I don't know what the others use.

AnonymousForObviousReason

An alternative which would ease paranoia (assuming your are confident in your own measures with your computer security) but at the cost of speed and ease of use, would be some financial software. GNU Cash, is one I used.
There was a recent post on this but I couldn't find the thread, MS Money (no longer supported but got some love) and Quicken were the others mentioned from memory. Of course excel could also work for you like it does for LeeSouthEast.

Olipro

Rufus_Dufus wrote: »

First Direct uses ActiveX. I don't know what the others use.

I think you mean Flash or Silverlight, I seriously doubt they are using an ActiveX control.

AnonymousForObviousReason

Olipro wrote: »

I think you mean Flash or Silverlight, I seriously doubt they are using an ActiveX control.

Yep I just checked and the Egg one is an ActiveX control.

http://new.egg.com/visitor/0,2388,3_48818--View_1021-bID_EMMTechFAQ-dva_1,00.html

It's used to store the banking details on your computer.

heloid

It's definitely ActiveX, hence the Internet Exploder requirement As above it's used to manipulate your password bank and for webpage detection/navigation/inserting log on details.

heloid

Some more digging on the security side of things.

Lovemoney.com / Yodlee
https://www.lovemoney.com/onlinebanking/securityfaq.aspx
Lovemoney uses Yodlee's service, just branded. They store all your details on their servers. Their servers connect directly to the banks.
It's read only so no one can do anything if they get inside. I doubt many hackers would target the service because it is obscure (ie. They'd hunt for Barclay login info, not yodlee login info). But then again, security through obscurity isn't security at all.
Your details will be compromised if Yodlee's servers are hacked. How much do you trust them?

https://money.strands.com/
https://money.strands.com/about/promise
As with Yodlee, they store your login details on their servers (their servers connect directly to the banks), but the service is read only - they can't change anything if they get your money.strands.com login details. This could still lead to ID theft by seeing potentially your address, recent transactions. Once again, you're relying on their security on their servers (if someone broke in to their systems your details are compromised).

Moneydashboard.com
http://www.moneydashboard.com/securitypolicy
This is equivalent to money.strands.com. Details stored on server, service is read only.

'FirstDirect InternetBankingPlus / Egg / Ewise (all based on Ewises software)
Stores your details in an encrypted container on your PC. Their servers hold the 'key' to unlock this container and it is released to your PC when you enter in the correct details. This makes it quite hard to break. If you want to use it on more than one PC you'll have to enter in ALL account details over again (ie. at work and at home). This is good from a security point of view. Doesn't stop someone using your PC and login details to gain full access but you are safe from people on the internet.
Requires Internet Explorer and ActiveX. Note on ActiveX, in itself it is safe, however people can create ActiveX controls which are malicious, Egg and FirstDirect obviously wouldn't do this to you. That said, Internet Explorer is the most common and therefore the most targeted browser by hackers. If you're not going to use Firefox/Chrome/Opera make sure you have the latest service pack for your version of windows, installed ALL windows update patches.
Personally this is what I use, but this is the only website I use Internet Explorer with and I'm very careful not to install any toolbars etc etc

AnonymousForObviousReason

Heloid Thanks for the research, really useful.

The small point I have is

heloid wrote: »

Doesn't stop someone using your PC and login details to gain full access but you are safe from people on the internet.

They would not just need the use of your PC and its login details, but also the login details of your Egg / FirstDirect InternetBankingPlus / Ewise account, I don't think you can store these in the browsers password manager, if you can you shouldn't be.

Sorry if this is what you meant by login, I'm being a pedantic (maybe that should read grumpy) xxx today - don't know why.

mrviner

heloid wrote: »

Moneydashboard.com
http://www.moneydashboard.com/securitypolicy
This is equivalent to money.strands.com. Details stored on server, service is read only.

Also Moneydashboard use a flash like Microsoft technology called Silverlight: google.co.uk/search?q=site:moneydashboard.com+silverlight

So not good for those trying to escape MS.

heloid

Silverlight is actually quite good, and available on pretty much all Windows/Mac browsers. The Linux port is a wee way off though (Firefox3 version only does Silverlight 2, not 3.)

garesfield

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

There was a good one, but it went under a while back. Can't even remember what it was called now! But I agree, I don't trust anyone with my login details except me. I aggregate myself in Excel

Do you simply mean that you copy and paste from your browser into Excel or are you using VBA to acces the banking website? If the latter, how are you coding the encryption handling?