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> Burndown List >> Banking, especially in Asia My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I
by _-___________-_ 7y ago
> Burndown List
>> Banking, especially in Asia
My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it. One of my accounts can be used via their mobile app (if you read Chinese or have another phone to use camera translation). My business account cannot be, and I am therefore required to visit a branch along with my official chop (seal / stamp) whenever I want to make a transaction.
In every bank branch I've been to, the computers are using ancient versions of Windows and IE. That actually applies to the PSB (a branch of the police) too. I think it might be a while before they get off IE.
- currysausage 7y agoHow do they not get infected with worms and ransomware the second they browse the internet?
- Arbalest 7y agoThe paranoid part of me would suspect that they've already been taken over, and the criminals behind them are actively preventing infection from visible forms of attack so they can maintain access to a valuable resource.
- IggleSniggle 7y agoAh yes, shadow IT, protecting the worlds computers from other criminals. A thankless job, really, but somebody has to do it
- rahimnathwani 7y ago"My bank in China requires Windows + IE + a custom ActiveX control to use their Internet banking. As a result, I don't use it." Why not have a VM just for internet banking? Surely that's easier than taking the chop out of the safe and waiting in line at the branch.
- lifthrasiir 7y agoAt least in South Korea some (but not all) rootkits actively check for the presence of VM.
- Achshar 7y agoHow does once check for the presence of a VM from inside the VM? Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the VM to begin with?
- lifthrasiir 7y agoTheoretically speaking you can make a VM that is indistinguishable to a real computer. In reality most VM solutions do not attempt to do so. For example, many install specialized drivers to communicate to the host that can be readily checked.
- pilif 7y ago> How does once check for the presence of a VM from inside the VM for example by enumerating the connected PCI devices and looking for common VM vendors virtual devices. >Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the VM to begin with that depends on your use-case. If it's about separating mostly trusted applications and/or servers, then absolutely not. If it's about investigating known-bad code, then, yes, absolutely - malware is often intentionally disabling itself when it detects it's running in a VM.
- _-___________-_ 7y agoYeah, I thought about it. But I don't know how I could keep the VM secure, so I might end up doing my Internet banking on a malware-infested system. I wouldn't trust myself to keep the latest version of Windows secure, given that I haven't used Windows in over a decade, so I'm pretty sure I can't be trusted to keep XP safe. (As far as I'm aware, the "security" software that the bank's ActiveX control communicates with only runs on XP.)
- himinlomax 7y ago
- derefr 7y agoI'm surprised Microsoft doesn't just revoke people's licenses to use EOLed Windows, such that they're breaking the law by staying on that version. That'd get crufty corps and orgs moving, no?
- Seenso 7y ago> I'm surprised Microsoft doesn't just revoke people's licenses to use EOLed Windows, such that they're breaking the law by staying on that version. That'd get crufty corps and orgs moving, no? I've heard it said that the official OS of mainland China is a pirated copy of Windows XP. IIRC, there are even 3rd-party vendors there that distribute security patches for it. I doubt those people will be fazed by the actions you suggest.
- banana_giraffe 7y agoThere was a joke that I hard from a friend at MS around the time of XP that people planning how many copies to produce for different regions would only produce one copy for China.
- oaiey 7y agoBecause they could run nuclear reactors? Or are the only terminal to a ancient water pipe system? There is a legal element which may allow them to do so, but it is incredible unresponsible to do so. Even the small Win10 migration process break people.
- filoleg 7y agoIt would get them moving, but not necessarily in the direction MSFT would like. If they are forced to change OS, they might think twice about moving to yet another OS made by a company that just did the forcing in such a ruthless way. Mind you, I would totally agree with such a decision, if MSFT decided to enforce it, but I dont think it will necessarily play out in a way that is advantageous to MSFT, hence why they haven’t done so yet.
- derefr 7y ago
- discreditable 7y agoFifth Third Bank in the USA has check deposit software for business users which requires IE with ActiveX, .NET activation, and several security settings laxed in order to work. I've heard no mumblings of it being updated any time soon.