HSBC Secure Key - Useless

KxMx

SailorSam wrote: »

With a struggle i'll use it at home when i can sit with the key flat on the desk in front of me with a bright lamp on it, i can't ever imagine out on the street at some cash point.

Why would you need this at a cash point? It is for Internet Banking only.

And if you were at a cashpoint, you can get a balance and, depending on where you are, a mini print out statement. So again, no use for it there.

baby_frogmella

jjlandlord wrote: »

And they keep moaning, on and on and on...

Perhaps the people 'moaning' are the same people who have never suffered fraud and are very unlikely to? Perhaps these people don't leave their debit cards on the car dashboard and don't give out their debit card pin and internet banking logon details to every family member? Why should those of us who operate our bank account in a security-conscious manner be forced to use these stupid devices? Lets face it you're fooked if your secure key malfunctions and you happen to be abroad. There's far far better (ie user friendly) methods to safeguard accounts such as Halifax's or N&P method; they do a automated callback to the user's number verifying the user.

redmalc

Hi Guys,I have not had any problems with the key,i have no problems with it !!

dzug1

jjlandlord wrote: »

And they keep moaning, on and on and on...

And some of them moaning are doing so out of ignorance as to how it actually works

The HSBC pad seems to have been designed to get over the need to use the debit card whilst authorising, which has been one of the moans about the devices used by other banks. Whether it's 'better' or not I don't know not having used it. I doubt if it's the last word on the subject

soothyerboots

Nothing wrong with the secure key. It's easy to use, and I don't mind an extra level of security if it means my money is more secure to be honest.

Haters gonna hate...

soothyerboots

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Perhaps the people 'moaning' are the same people who have never suffered fraud and are very unlikely to? Perhaps these people don't leave their debit cards on the car dashboard and don't give out their debit card pin and internet banking logon details to every family member? Why should those of us who operate our bank account in a security-conscious manner be forced to use these stupid devices? Lets face it you're fooked if your secure key malfunctions and you happen to be abroad. There's far far better (ie user friendly) methods to safeguard accounts such as Halifax's or N&P method; they do a automated callback to the user's number verifying the user.

People like you, with that attitude, quite frankly deserve to suffer fraud.

Gromitt

baby_frogmella wrote: »

Why should those of us who operate our bank account in a security-conscious manner be forced to use these stupid devices?

Do you check for any unauthorised programs or scripts running before you open your banks internet sign on page? Do you sniff your internet traffic to ensure your connection is going to where you think its going? Most people are not capable of doing this, so the banks have come up with a way that, even if someone is watching you type in all your details (without your knowledge of course), then it doesn't matter. They can't do anything with that information. Get rid of the key and it becomes possible to impersonate you. With the Halifax and the like, a malicious user may not be able to create a new payee, but they could make your life difficult by wrecking your finances which could take months to repair.

This is how 'security conscious' you need to be, it's not just about keeping your card and PIN safe.

baby_frogmella

soothyerboots wrote: »

People like you, with that attitude, quite frankly deserve to suffer fraud.

That's right, those of us who take sensible precautions and don't click on every spam email link asking us to input our bank logon details do indeed deserve to suffer fraud :T

Gromitt wrote: »

Do you check for any unauthorised programs or scripts running before you open your banks internet sign on page? Do you sniff your internet traffic to ensure your connection is going to where you think its going?
This is how 'security conscious' you need to be, it's not just about keeping your card and PIN safe.

But i'm sure you'd agree those who take basic security measures such as not using their pc for dodgy websites, using a good AV engine, only using wifi they trust, not clicking on spam email links, not giving out their internet banking login details to their half cousins in Mongolia etc are far, far less likely to suffer fraud as a result. The risk is always there, its about minimising that risk. Crossing the road is always a risk but there's a huge difference between crossing the road with your eyes closed and looking both ways before crossing. Of course my bank account could be wiped clean tomorrow by fraudsters but i like to think the chances of that happening are very slim. If/when my bank First Direct introduces the secure key (which they probably will sooner or later being part of HSBC), i'll just ditch internet banking altogether and just use the phone to carry out banking transactions...free in the UK (i have unlimited landline calls from my mobile) and also free overseas...First Direct will happily accept reverse charges from abroad on their 01132345678 number

dave76

the thing is I dont really care about anybody logging in to my account and seeing how little money I have so long as they cannot take any money out. There is little point in having this extra layer of security just to view my account, but there is a benefit in having it to set up payments.

In fact, now I come to think of it (only done this once since the key was introduced) you have to use the secure key again in a different mode to set up a new payment - this is all that is needed, the login part is overkill IMHO

Gromitt

baby_frogmella wrote: »

But i'm sure you'd agree those who take basic security measures such as not using their pc for dodgy websites, using a good AV engine, only using wifi they trust, not clicking on spam email links, not giving out their internet banking login details to their half cousins in Mongolia etc are far, far less likely to suffer fraud as a result.

Indeed. But the percentage of people who are like you compared to the percentage of people that'll click any link that appear even half-genuine, regardless of the amount of spelling mistakes, is unreal, so the bank have to do something. It was only last week that I was called across to a neighbours house because his PC said his computer was infected and to "click here" to 'disinfect'. Of course that was a website saying that, and the 'disinfect' was downloading a program that ran a fake virus scan and then demanded $99 to remove said virus (itself). Took me ages to explain this to him (and then the usual questions of "Why would people do this to me?" etc). I had to reformat and reinstall his PC. Also advised him to contact his bank, just in case.

In the end, the bank just sees numbers. Before they issued these keys, they were losing a lot more money through internet banking fraud than they do now (apparently, according to the bank).