Do you trust banks? Blog Discussion

malc_b

This is a bit off topic perhaps, but I think it want airing and might be a good TV bit. It is to do with banks and trust.

A lot of banks do not ask for your whole password just 3 characters. They are confusing making life hard for the customer with hard for the hacker. Let's assume the password is all lower case and exclude x,y,z. This, I would suggest would exclude a few passwords but keep most people's. The probability of guessing 3 letters is then 23x23x23 12167:1. So a hacker who had say 15,000 user names has a good change or getting in to one and emptying it. Or try each one twice and you need 7,500 names and so on.

It doesn't matter that the select different letters (I think) as it is the question as what is the probability of throwing a 6 after throwing a 6, answer 6:1 as dice have no memory.

These are very low numbers. Far more secure is demanding the entire password of 6 or more characters, 148 million :1 and even more if you use upper, lower and numbers.

update: The situation is even worst than I thought. NatWest ask for 3 numbers, 1:1000 chance of guessing the right number. That is way too low to be secure.

alon

I stopped trusting banks when in the early seventies during a legal dispute between the partners of a company of which I was a member came to the high court. The manager of the firms bank one of the big five was sworn in and in answer to the first question put to him produced a spurious document from his jacket pocket and proceeded to lie through his teeth. The master of the rolls who was presiding asked to see the document took one look and told the manager to leave his court forthwith.A second manager from my own branch was sent home by the judge without even taking the stand. I was the defendant in the case and was told by the judge moments later that I was completely right and the bank was in the wrong. They subsequently had to change one of their methods of doing business. I have never trusted any financial institution since.

Willow55

Hi, I have been told about this site by my son when we were discussing how safe is your bank. My wife and I have been with the Coopertaive Bank for over 40 years. How safe (as a bank) is the Coop?
Peter

Noz

Can you trust anyone in regards to financial advice these days?