Safe Online Banking Abroad?

dinofabio

Hi All,

I'm going for a long trip (4-6 months) around S.E Asia in a couple of weeks.

While I'm away, I need to access my online bank accounts to try and keep track of my spending and maybe transfer money between accounts.

I'm worried about using internet cafes etc because keylogging etc.

Is it safe to just use a smart phone and take a hit with the data charges?

Bob_the_Saver

dinofabio wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm going for a long trip (4-6 months) around S.E Asia in a couple of weeks.

While I'm away, I need to access my online bank accounts to try and keep track of my spending and maybe transfer money between accounts.

I'm worried about using internet cafes etc because keylogging etc.

Is it safe to just use a smart phone and take a hit with the data charges?

You are right to be worried, so many have virus problems in my experience.

Bogtrotter

I would never use an internet cafe machine to do online banking. I always travel with a small netbook precisely for internet access while abroad.

Being particularly paranoid I may also use a non persistant linux distribution booting from usb and/or a secure ssh tunnel between netbook and a server at home.

As for mobile I may risk using an iPhone if absolutely necessary but never an Android device.

shaun_from_Africa

Whatever method of access you use, make sure that you have a long password made up of upper and lower case letters and some symbols.

It would also be worth advising your bank that you will be travelling around, and also seeing if they do a text alert service whenever any changes or new debits are made to your account.

victor2

If your online banking uses your debit card and a card reader to generate a pass code when you key in your PIN, then that gives you an extra level of protection. Still, I'd favour a netbook or smartphone and make use of WiFi, which is widely available unless you'll be in remote areas.

dinofabio

Bogtrotter wrote: »

As for mobile I may risk using an iPhone if absolutely necessary but never an Android device.

What's wrong with android? (I haven't got an iphone)

agrinnall

I took a netbook for 4 months travel in SE Asia, although that was before smartphones were widely available. I found free wifi in many places, although in a few I had to pay to use a wired connection in internet cafes. I'd probably do the same again rather than take an easily stolen or lost but pretty expensive smartphone.

Bogtrotter

dinofabio wrote: »

What's wrong with android? (I haven't got an iphone)

There's more of a chance that possibly apps that you have downloaded could have hidden/malware purposes. With iPhone the chances are less since all apps are thoroughly scrutinised by Apple before release.

claire16c

I used online banking in Asia and other places when I was travelling for 8 months, and just took my card reader thing with me, had no problems. I saw lots of people doing it. There's being paranoid, but then you also need to be able to pay bills/move money about in order to travel in the first place!

Bob_the_Saver

To give an example in Penang I downloaded something to a pendrive + over 40 viruses!! according to my netbook when I next used it.
In India one particular internet cafe downloaded 12 viruses to the pen drive.
An anti key-logger is no real protection these days things have moved on.

Register for alerts from your bank and use their software on your own machine with a mobile broadband dongle and suitable other anti-virus etc protection, but nothing is 100% guaranteed.

Other than that organise things before you go and just get alerts with your balance, you can then reconcile that with known spending to check all is OK.

Spending half the year in Asia this is something I plan for.

ferf1223

I worry about hopping on random wi-fi on our netbook and logging onto online banking, it just seems like it would be unsecure...many (most?) hotel wi-fi is unsecure...and I don't know enough about how these things work to know whether it would be safe or not.