Banking in XP or Linux??

I have a dual boot machine with Windows XP and Linux Mint 8 (Helena).

Linux Mint 8 is up to date. I also have everything up to date in XP and use Sandboxie with a "Security" box for investing/banking, which I empty every time I use it. I run DefenseWall, Panda Cloud Pro, and I use Firefox with WOT, NoScript, and Keyscrambler. I also use both Roboform and Keepass. I do go to some dicey web sites but I can't remember the last time I had a virus.

I also have VMware on the machine (XP side) and I have a number of XP (not updated from the original installation) virtual environments and a new Linux Mint 10 virtual environment that I just installed.

I am retired and do investing and banking on line. If I was to make a mistake it could cost me so I am very security conscious.

I have always used XP for investing/banking because I feel I am secure with the protection I have. Part of me says to use Linux because I never read or hear about security problems with Linux machines and I know if I was a crook I'd target XP. However, when I'm on Linux, I have little protection (I do use KeePass X) and I feel like I'm out there naked in what supposed to be the good part of town.

I thought comments I would get in this section of the forum might enlighten me. I appreciate any input you might give.......unless its negative and you think I'm nuts.

Edit: I also use ClearCloud DNS

 

I don't do any online banking or investing but I do use PayPal, Amazon, Newegg, etc..

I don't purchase anything online using Windows. I have a number of Linux machines and for security each machine is behind a router with NoScript and OpenDNS.

For me this works.

Jim

 

You can use anything you like, it makes no difference.
Mrk

 

check certificate of site better go with bank which support on-line fraud/theft dont install crap on system thats all need

as far windows or linux agree with mrk

You can use anything you like, it makes no difference.
Mrk

 

Perhaps also have a look at Prevx SafeOnline or Trusteer Rapport.

 

I'll chose Linux Mint over XP, always. By the way why in the world are you still using Mint 8? Upgrade, please.

Thqanks.

 

I use a 10 year old laptop which i have Slitaz installed on which i only use for my online banking. The main reason for using linux is its fast boot time and lightning speed on old hardware.
I'm a bit of freak when it comes to security so i like to have laptops/desktops setup for specific tasks. I have the old laptop mentioned for banking, another laptop setup for social networking & general web browsing and then my desktop setup for gaming.

 

I think too many linux users are comfortable with "security through obscurity", and I don't think it helps the community in general. While the basic premise is better than XP, i.e. run as an unprivileged user for everything except updates and installs, there are still risks, and the one that worries me most is one that might cause you problems. Namely, how do I guard against software which steals my personal information. I'm actually much less concerned with a virus which wipes out my OS. That is inconvenient to fix, but doesn't have the potential to cost me my life savings. Software which steals keystrokes could potentially be script based which could negate the advantage of running as a limited user in XP or linux since scripts can survive a reboot. I'm thinking (just off the top of my head) theoretically of a nifty, but malicious plugin.

If you are really concerned, you could do your online banking or financial transactions via a live-cd. Your computer could be infected as hell, and it should still work securely once you run the live-cd.

If you stick with XP, do you run as a limited user? Personally, I think this is the single best security feature I use. If you did that, then you should be very secure against malware installs unless you hand them the keys yourself. Then you could reboot just before you do your banking or financial transactions. At the least, just before your financial transactions, leave and empty your sandbox.

To get around the nifty malicious plugin, you could do your day to day browsing with firefox, but do your financial transactions with chromium. Don't add any unnecessary plugins to chrome. That way you can setup firefox with whatever plugins you like and they won't affect what chrome does. I'd still shut firefox down before I did my financial transactions though, and you could do that on either XP or linux.

Have you considered getting a cheap PC just for online financial stuff? You wouldn't need much memory or disk. 256M ram 10G disk and <1Ghz processor would be enough. You could ask you friends if they have an old one. If you are like me, you've probably thrown out a few that would have done the job. On it you could install linux and only use it for financial transactions.

When you are doing financial stuff online, do you need access to other things on your computer, and are you online doing financial stuff many hours of the day? If you need access to other programs while doing so, then live-cd or rebooting every time are probably out.