Is Rapport worth having ?

Richie-from-the-Boro

Given recent history its not even a given that Nationwide know much about banking or computers let alone 'keyloggers'. I well REM the origin of Crapport & The Okie Island Trading Company [OITC ]

- they clearly know so much about computing & things technological yes .. .. I'll hand my security over to them - not!. Why anyone would trust any banks word is a conundrum, why anyone would trust a bank's IT advice is an even bigger mystery to me.:D

Old post on MSE but still valid.

Rapport

There was a post some many weeks ago in this section of the forum, reference Virgin / Kaspersky / Rapport ! - I said at that time "" never in a million years, not Virgin, or HSBC Rapport, not with a barge pole. Why trust anyone ? just because it's your bank doesn't make them experts, it arguably doesn't even make them any more expert than you are, yet they frighten you the customer into putting one more piece of software onto your puter. HSBC login system already requires a specific PIN and a variable password [ changes each time you log in ] and a 3 wrong strikes and your locked out fall back position.

I don't trust any of the words that the Okie Island Trading Company have to say about the validity of Rapport, and certainly not their testing methodology. My understanding is it eats RAM, slows your net experience, has low detection capabilities, high false positives, and any program without a reverse gear [ uninstaller ] should not be allowed on any computer. Your computer is your responsibility, keep it, and a good AV, clean and updated and you won't need this extra burden. There's nothing new about keyloggers they've been around since the days of BB's, [ DOS version of the internet ] I'm not sure if (a) the banks have been scammed into paying money to Rapport, by Rapport or (b) the banks are scamming the customers with Rapport.

- all banks, not just HSBC have a ' variable password ' , Barclays for example have a calculator [ pin sentry - see * below ] version of variable password, so even if Rapport was not on your system and a ' bot ' was sent your keystrokes [ see ** below ] they would not be able to [ see *** below] get into your bank. The banks have been negligent, their product assessment is to say the least, very very pedestrian.


- no one involved in the security world would allow customer ID’s to be saved in a browser
- your puter may not be public / or / shared as far as you know but half the worlds puters have unsecured modems / routers etc so they might as well be shared
- and of course it may be stolen, or worse still taken to PCWorld for their gibbons to play with
- any script kiddie doesn't need a keylogger anyway, easy .. .. just attack [ reverse engineer ] the storage
- OITC ' guarantee' security even on an infected system, what ? they know the puter is infected yet they let it function inside a banks servers ?

I'm with HSBC, they want me to install a similar package.
I'm with Virgin Media, they want me to install a similar package
I'm with Microsoft O/S, they want me to install a similar package

Look Crapport is crap, you don't need it pointlessly wasting your cycles. It's become slightly less intrusive than the early days, but its still :

- a very unessential layer of risk
- an a~n~other point of failure
- an endlessly endorsed bit of uselessness pushed on the public

Why would people think installing a keylogger on their computer is a good idea, when most of the techies on here pay their mortgages by getting them off other peoples computers ?

I was with the Midland Bank 24 years ago when I was invited to be a member of their beta test team for internet banking, in those 25 years I've never had any problems whatsoever. Midland is of course now HSBC.
I will not be taking up any parties offer to install their software onto my machine. My machine is just that, mine ! Mine to keep clean and un-compromised.

debitcardmayhem

Dave_C wrote: »

I'm noticing a pattern developing here!
Nationwide recommend using Rapport but it isn't mandatory.

As far as I can see, no mention of it appears in the on-line Banking Terms and Conditions or the On-line Banking Promise.

So they don't trust it enough to make it a mandatory requirement.

Dave

They Also don't see fit to mention the Linux version of Rapport (which of course at the last time of looking) does not exist, fortunately I use a read only version of Linux which has been solid for 3 years and cannot get a keylogger, nor does it save cookie monsters and other bits and pieces, it has no default routes that lead anywhere other than a black hole, it does not use DHCP and it does not use DNS call me anal but at least I retain my cash

msfoxymax

i just uninstalled rapport and they have sent me an email with a bloody million questions lol! seriously do they think im going to answer all there questions? have a look below

We would like to better understand the problem you've experienced with Rapport so we can analyze and fix it. What suggested the problem is caused by Rapport? When did you install Rapport and when did you first notice the computer was slower? Did you experience slowness while browsing the internet, upon browser start up, or was it perhaps overall slowness (while using applications other than the browser)? Was the computer also slow booting up? Did you also experience the slowness shortly after restarting the computer? Was the computer always slow or did it improve/worsen throughout the day? How often do you tend to restart your computer? We would also like to check your system's available resources. In order to do this, please press the Windows key and the "R" key together, and then type: msinfo32 and click "OK". While choosing "system summary" on the left, please scroll all the way down (on the right side of the window) and tell us what it says next to "Total Physical Memory" and "Available Physical Memory". Additionally, can you please tell us what were the results of uninstalling Rapport? Did it resolve the problem experienced?


:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

chunter

Going against the grain,
but if it's XP, you're running one of the free anti-viruses and you don't know anything about computer security, I'd leave it there.
The free antivirus' are pretty darn well useless in finding rootkits on XP, so you may find it saves your bacon some day, and you won't even know it...

Loanranger

Good grief, talk about holier than thou!

The OP asked about Rapport and I gave my experience. No problems whatsoever.
I certainly did not ask for, nor require, that the more experienced on this thread talk down to me in a condescending tone.
I know little about security but that does not make me an idiot.
For the record, I have been using computers as tools since 1977 in my degree studies and in my work.
Can we cut the high and mighty superior tone please?

letsbehonest

Hi loan ranger.
I have just read this thread with some interest as I have been using Rapport on my win 7 system since Nationwide recommended it. Reading the above comments I would not say anyone was talking down to you in any condencending tone, I for one am very appreciative for the knowledge expressed it has made me think again about keeping Rapport on my system.

pixwix

hubb wrote: »

I have been advised by Santander when going into my account that I should downland and install Rapport to secure from hackers. However, as my PC isn't the fastest it slows it right down and is a pain.
Is it still worth having ?

My personal opinion only - give it the elbow (though you might not find it as easy to uninstall as to install.)

I had the same experience a year ago with RBS - in my case on quite a good, fast PC. It didn't just slow everything down, but crashed my machine regularly (crashes started when I installed, stopped when I uninstalled.) It seemed to clash with my Kaspersky, and RBS's serious advice was to get rid of Kaspersky!!!

After getting shot of it (Rapport not Kaspersky!) I did some Googling and was hard put to find out anything definitive about the software other than it's only ever recommended by banks - who seem to have a cozy relationship with Trusteer, Rapport's publisher. I could find very little other security advice online in its favour.

I use Kasperky Internet Suite and wasn't encouraged when one of their support people told me he didn't think Rapport was necessary, was cynical about what it actually did (for me as opposed to the bank) and didn't agree it would make me 'secure from hackers' (they don't 100% guarantee that even for their own top-flight products.) He made it clear Kaspersky couldn't help with problems arising while both application were running.

If Santander (and other banks) were serious about internet security, they'd be offering top-flight internet security software like Kaspersky or equivalents (at a discount if not free) especially as many now have sandboxes or safe browsing features like Kaspersky's new 'Safe Money.'

Barclays in fact do offer Kaspersky free - but oddly enough only to their online banking customers and not to their online credit card users (which makes me wonder if they've rather missed the point.)

Zanzibar

I was with the Midland Bank 24 years ago when I was invited to be a member of their beta test team for internet banking..

Umm, except no internet in 1988..

squigglepop

First Direct made me install Rapport when I started using their internet banking and it was truly a disaster. I was running XP at the time (I'm now on Vista) and it slowed my machine to a crawl, then crashed it. I had to pay for professional help to get rid of it and as soon as it was gone everything was back to normal. If you want advice on how to protect your online activity a good source is "Ask Leo" (Leo Notenboom of Puget Sound Software) who I have followed for many years and highly recommend.

Bob_the_Saver

Got it, no big deal, keeps banks happy.