There is still skepticism of online banking because of security and the skepticism is legitimate. Some banks have failed to keep their customer information safe. There are instances where massive debit card numbers have been stolen making one wonder how secure the online banking really is. There are also issues of key-loggers and malicious software that literally steal the information you type into your computer making it easy to break into your account and do things with your money that you never approved of. However, there is a technology that could help solve most of these issues on the user side.
There is a device called an authenticator that could be an extra layer of protection for the customer. How this works is when logging into the bank account the customer would need their login, their password, and the number from the authenticator device. This small device that can go on a keychain has a button pressed to give a number. That number is only valid for a minute. That becomes like the second password in order to log in. After a minute that number is never valid again.
This means that if someone wants to log into your account they have to literally steal this device from you and know your name and password to that account. This gives you physical control over access to your online account. If this is utilized by you, then it gives your banking account just one extra step of protection that you will need. Then spyware and key-loggers, even if getting part of the login, won’t be able to get into your account since you hold the physical piece.
The costs of these devices are fairly cheap most of the time coming well under $15 to the end user. If you want to bank online but are still skeptical of security, shop around for a bank that is serious about customer safety and offer authenticators for online banking.