The security of online financial institutions

When Mahesh Rao looked in on his NetBank checking account Tuesday night, he received something of a surprise. In addition to his account information, he had access to another NetBank customer_s account, revealing not only her various transactions but also the amount of money in the account and her social security number. Despite five calls Rao made to NetBank beginning Wednesday, the problem wasn_ fixed until last night. NetBank chief technology officer Tom Cable blamed the problem on human error, saying that a NetBank employee had improperly linked Rao_s account to another customer_s account. Cable said the problem was fixed after Rao_s first call, but the fix didn_t show up online immediately because of a change in the company_s back-end systems.
Rao_s experience raises questions about the security of online financial institutions as a growing number of consumers shift their finances to Internet banking and trading accounts. Although what Rao experienced appeared to be isolated, it_s still important, Jupiter Communications digital commerce analyst Robert Sterling said. Because Rao was able to access another users_ account, he presumably could have moved money out of the other account, and that_s "not acceptable," Sterling said. He added that Net users today expect online banks to be secure and have little sympathy for human or technical errors that affect their accounts.