Online Banking Security - one way to be safe from “SilentBanker”
With recent news about the “SilentBanker” trojan that basically steals your usernames and passwords for online banking sites (and making your hard earned $$$ appear in a bank account a long ways away) the need to protect ourselves is extremely high.
For the ultra-paranoid among us there is an option which will provide pretty good protection from such keyloggers. If you use a LiveCD (essentially a CD or DVD with an operating system on it) which boots your computer into a sterile environment without touching any files on your computer. So, any badware thats in your Windows install cannot run and cannot intercept your transmission.
One common LiveCD is Ubuntu Linux which can be downloaded for free at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download - once you download it you burn it to a CD or DVD by using the “Burn from Image” option in your CD burning software. After you have the disc, stick it in your computer and reboot - it will boot into Ubuntu. Once it boots, use the Mozilla Firefox (it’s pretty easy to find) web browser to do your online banking (or buying stuff online - pretty much anything with sensitive information in it) and then remove the CD from your computer and reboot.
It’s a little slow to load the LiveCD but if you are concerned about security it’s a good step to take. Even with the most corrupted Windows install you will be safe from Silentbanker and the other badware which can steal your information.
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