Is this the End of Internet Banking?

isofa

Flynn wrote: »

If you work in eCommerce then you should understand that it's nothing to do with bandwidth. It's to do with the limitations of the actual database servers.<snip>

Spot on, they could introduce more load balancing and more servers to cope with more concurrent users (concurrent being the key term here), but you have to estimate the maximum number of concurrent users, and no bank is going to spend out on a system design to cope with every customer accessing it at once, that would be foolish. So obviously the NR system ground to a halt with so many people trying to log-in at once.

Hence they put up the page to prevent people, temporarily, accessing the site, which then someone, presumably with very little knowledge of how and why these things are done, decided to post the "back-door" URL login to bypass it - no doubt people then tried to use it, overloaded the system, so it became unstable again. How unhelpful.

NR aren't trying to actively stop you getting your money, after all they've opened branches for longer hours during this "crisis", have a thought for the poor staff working overtime who may well loose their jobs.

Internet banking is a lot safer than it used to be, I use internet banking on some accounts, but not all. It's certainly as safe as ringing someone up in a call centre giving your details and data, who could easily be writing it all down to use for a nefarious purpose when they leave work.

Nothing can be 100% secure.

roddydogs

If you go into savinge & investments forum u will find a link to NR which will get you into the website-and it Works!

Aegis

roddydogs wrote: »

If you go into savinge & investments forum u will find a link to NR which will get you into the website-and it Works!

We know, hence this quote from the post immediately before yours:

Hence they put up the page to prevent people, temporarily, accessing the site, which then someone, presumably with very little knowledge of how and why these things are done, decided to post the "back-door" URL login to bypass it - no doubt people then tried to use it, overloaded the system, so it became unstable again. How unhelpful.

Stompa

StevieJ wrote: »

Surely it is as simple as allowing all internet customers to have the option of access via a branch, if the customer deems that to be the best option at any particular time.

Assuming the bank in question actually has any branches.....

Garnet_Gem

I've just moved half of my internet savings into an account (with the same company) where I can get easier access to my money. I don't think that the NR clients will lose their money and I don't think there's going to be a big banking crash but I need to get access to my money if I need it. I'm not panicking, I'm looking after me.

julie777

Stompa wrote: »

Assuming the bank in question actually has any branches.....

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I'm sick to death of A & L and will be moving my small savings sum elsewhere. I'm going to split it between 2 with good rates. I do most transactions by internet but at least one of my choices must also have a local branch for emergency access. IF ANYONE HAS A GOOD IDEA it will save me a lot of searching! Thanks.:T

julie777

Stompa wrote: »

Assuming the bank in question actually has any branches.....

That's exactly what I'm looking for! I'm sick to death of A & L and will be moving my small savings sum elsewhere. I'm going to split it between 2 with good rates. I do most transactions by internet but at least one of my choices must also have a local branch for emergency access. IF ANYONE HAS A GOOD IDEA it will save me a lot of searching! Thanks.:T

robp

Idiophreak wrote: »

I don't think anybody expected so many people to freak out over this, so they really couldn't have anticipated the amount of traffic they've been dealing with...

Even if they're trying to catch up with the load, as others have said, it isn't just a case of flicking a couple of switches - they'll have to get hold of new boxes, get the appropriate code put on them, change the way the load's balanced across the system...it's going to take time...

Now someone is making sense.
A banking system is much more complicated than a single server or some bandwidth. Any properly designed system will have had some Capacity Planning and Management performed during its design and operation phase.
It's very likely that there will be a pinch point, but this will be the trade off between cost and performance.

I wouldn't worry so much about access (it would be prudent to have your savings spread between different institutions anyway), but am more concerned about security.

At the large telecoms company I contract at, they use SecureID and Actividentity cards to identify us on many systems which hold commercially sensitive data. This would be a good way for banks to go with their customers, and I understand that some already are. We are also developing other identity authorization techniques which will be rather useful tools in the fight against fraud.

I think we need less panic and more understanding of the real issues.

gt94sss2

A couple of relevant quotes from an article about this issue:

Nick Staib, an internet banking spokesman at HSBC, said the bank has invested in technology to ensure its website performs with dual site contingency and strong multiple server resilience.

"Capacity is based on anticipated peak volumes several years ahead. We are continually monitoring our data operations. Any deviations are quickly escalated and investigated.

"We run many diagnostic tests, including dummy transactions, through special test accounts to check real world performance against service level agreements. We have added, and will continue to add, extra capacity as and when required."

A spokesman at HBOS said, "We are continually reviewing the architecture of the site to ensure that it meets our projected customer activity levels while allowing for periods of "stretch" where demand is higher than normal.

"As a large business, we also have contingency plans to cover other eventualities and ensure customers' inconvenience would be kept to a minimum should exceptional circumstances arise."

Regards
Sunil