Online bank users at risk from hackers

Many banks are unwittingly training their online customers to take risks with their passwords and other sensitive account information, leaving them more vulnerable to fraud, new research shows.

[Norman Moore]

I never ever click links in an e-mail sent from my bank or a utility company, even if i am nearly 100% certain that the e-mail is legitimate. The good news is that the better known browsers (Firefox and Internet Explorer-7) incorporate anti phishiing and other protections against web sited masquerading as something else. Even when you click on links within a site you should get a warning if your browser sees a problem. The important thing is to not think of those warnings as a pesky popup and do not just click ok to send it away. Read the text and if in doubt JUST SAY NO (cancel).

Please note IE-6 is not very secure and if your computer and operating system supports IE-7 you should get it from www,microsoft.com. It is free. You can also opt for Firefox from www.mozilla.org , which is also free. If you have an older computer with Windows-98 or Me, you are at grave risk and need to be extremely cautious. Microsoft no longer supports those systems and they never were very secure, now there are no attempts to fix any holes.

[Mark A Mutti]

This article hits the nail right on the head.
It's too often that you'll see insecure pages with log in forms - They are actually posting the data through an SSL page, but as the article says, the page with the log in form is not SSL'ed itself, so people are not being conditioned to watch for things like the little padlock, which indicates an SSL certificate (and connection) in use.
For those who aren't familiar with the meaning of SSL (aka https,) an analogy I like was this: The site and your computer basically agree to speak the data in a new language which is generated right there on the spot - Any system listening in (like that of a hacker, for example) can not understand or decode this new 'language' your computer and the secure server have invented. Each time you go back to that website - Or re-establish a connection with it - The secure server will generate a completely new 'language.'
Happy surfing. Remember to always look for the lock in your browser. If you don't know whether a website is counterfeit or not, call you bank and read the website URL to a representative over the phone.
- Mark A. Mutti, PhireFast Website Hosting