Bank says no to XP for online banking

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by cortez, Apr 22, 2014.

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  1. cortez

    cortez Registered Member

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    I went to the bank in person to verify that XP was no longer accepted for their online banking, and yes they said not to use it any longer. (Yes it is a Huge Bank).

    Heads up. They said only MS Vista and up was OK.

    They were ignorant of any Linux usage and said to check with their corporate office.

    Cannot get anyone in corporate office willing to go on record to say which OS was OK other than the ones the local office recommended (Vista and up).

    They said to call back in a week. :mad:

    I am glad that I only go in person for banking.
     
  2. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    call them and push the issue.
    surely, they must've heard about Ubuntu or Linux Mint?

    if enough complain they might include Mint or Ubuntu if they haven't already.
     
  3. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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  4. DoctorPC

    DoctorPC Banned

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    Get used to it. If banks cannot verify you are using a 'reasonably' supported, and 'reasonably' secure, updated operating system and/or browser, they will block you. My Credit Union will no longer service anyone using WindowsXP, and I agree with their stance. It's pretty silly people still insist on running a 14 year old operating system, and in my view - ignorant. Best Buy, and some other big tech servicing companies aren't servicing/supporting XP clients any longer. One of my major clients, that services over 5,000+ systems, is refusing to update, or support any client still running XP.

    XP users remind me of Luddites.
     
  5. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    I would just switch the bank if they don't recognize major distributions such as Debian or Red Hat. There are plenty of banks around. Their loss if they are uneducated.
     
  6. whitedragon551

    whitedragon551 Registered Member

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    Makes sense. Switch banks because the tellers that have no secondary education arent familiar with Ubuntu.
     
  7. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    It's not about the tellers. It's about the multi billion dollar company which probably runs on linux has no idea what linux is and is unwilling to state which linux distributions are safe or unsafe.
    I am a paying customer and if one multi billion dollar company doesn't fit my needs, there are plenty of other multi billion dollar monopolies here in the good old U.S. of A.
     
  8. whitedragon551

    whitedragon551 Registered Member

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    Just picked on a massive company. Would you leave this company because they dont have Linux stated in their system requirements: https://www.chase.com/resources/system-requirements
     
  9. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    changing bank is not a trivial matter.
    you get privileges after being a long time customer.

    beside, banks not supporting Linux is probably the standard rather than the exception.
     
  10. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    Would you please state which huge bank it is?

    I can not think of any personal liability issues for you if it is now their bank's official policy.

    If you are still fearful of repercussions, then perhaps a good hint?

    Thank you.
     
  11. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    What do you mean by "no longer accepted"? I'm curious about how would they know what OS you have installed...
     
  12. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    I suppose if the account holder's browser reported itself as IE6, that might lead to the conclusion it's XP...

    Plus our systems report the "User Agent" which would need to be imitated as anything other than, and later than XP.

    http://whatsmyos.com/
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2014
  13. ronjor

    ronjor Global Moderator

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    One article.
    http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...-windows-xp-no-security-threat-area-banks-say
     
  14. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    Wells Fargo gives me no trouble using IceWeasel 24.4 for online banking. Same goes for Chase and Bank of America.

    None of my banks are giving my any privileges either.

    There is a difference between being unsupported and not working and unsupported and working fine. Chase works fine here.
     
  15. moontan

    moontan Registered Member

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    make sure if your bank account is compromised and you are not using one of the approved OSes or browsers that you would still be covered if something happens.

    it's all in the fine prints. ;)
     
  16. mattdocs12345

    mattdocs12345 Registered Member

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    Very good point. This is something I should inquire about.
     
  17. aztony

    aztony Registered Member

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    I continue to access my credit union acct. just fine with Avant (using the IE rendering engine) and Chrome browsers on my XP platform. I've seen nothing in the credit union's access requirement specifying what OS is necessary for banking access. They do, however, provide a list of necessary browsers, along with the applicable version numbers.
     
  18. Nebulus

    Nebulus Registered Member

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    I can understand if they would give you a list of supported browsers, but it really doesn't make any sense for an online banking service to talk about supported OS.
     
  19. Wroll

    Wroll Registered Member

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    The corporate trying to pass responsibility to the customer. Nothing new.
     
  20. 1PW

    1PW Registered Member

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    I agree!

    I suppose the OP could run Firefox with the User Agent Switcher Add-on. But spoofing another OS & browser might bring about unintended consequences.

    I wonder if the bank feels as if they need to exceed due diligence to avoid bad publicity and potential law suits?
     
  21. wtsinnc

    wtsinnc Registered Member

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    If the OP or anyone else is still using XP, that's their choice- that topic has been discussed and argued here many times and will never be resolved.
    If they're still using XP with IE-6 or IE-7, I'm surprised they can negotiate the internet with any degree of satisfaction.
    If the OP or anyone else running XP with an up to date browser can access their bank account(s) without issue, then their experience is the same as mine. I have yet to encounter any website refusing access due to my OS (XP Home SP-2). If the OP's bank requires an OS newer than XP then his bank has concerns and priorities which are different from BOA and several other major financial institutions.

    By the way, in case this can be of value to someone reading this;
    Bank of America offers free download from their website and ongoing use of Trusteer Rappport which will work with XP SP-3 and above. It's available here:
    https://www.bankofamerica.com/privacy/online-mobile-banking-privacy/trusteer-rapport.go

    -And a disclaimer:
    I am not or ever have been either an employee or a shareholder of BOA, nor has any member of my family.
     
  22. whitedragon551

    whitedragon551 Registered Member

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    Thats not what you said originally. Originally you said that if they cant say which Linux distros are safe/unsafe you would switch. That page tells you what is acceptable to use and now the story has changed to if it works fine, but isnt stated its ok.
     
  23. xxJackxx

    xxJackxx Registered Member

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    Exactly. What is Linux on the desktop, about a 1-2% market share? That would be a lot of work for the bank to verify which builds of which distros are approved as safe to use when 98%+ or customers are not going to be using it.
     
  24. Veeshush

    Veeshush Registered Member

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    But then again, what bank is going to check that you have all the latest Windows Updates, a anti-virus, updated plugins, browser, etc. If they're just checking the user agent and blocking XP then it's kind of sloppy considering a fully patched XP system today is still more secure that a fresh Vista install without ANY Windows Updates.

    I could see banks recommending some sort of Linux live cd just to login while online banking.
     
  25. Mrkvonic

    Mrkvonic Linux Systems Expert

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    How about User agent switcher?
    Mrk
     
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