IBM to Acquire Trusteer

Then we should avoid USA's legal jurisdiction and companies at all costs:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-costs-tech-companies-paid

Did you know that you as an USA citizen can sue an European Government in Europe if it violates your privacy, whereas I can't do the same in the USA as an European citizen? USA gives itself the right to spy (and worse) anyone in this world.

The point of my previous post was that you are using the word "foreigner" to call anyone outside the USA like if this forum belongs to you and your country.

 

I have no hidden agenda and could care less about Trusteer. I am just stating the facts as they are.

And just what are your credentials to decide what I am doing is unprofessional? Keep your personal opinions to yourself, pal. BTW that is unprofessional behavior.

 

Which facts? That you cannot even admit you post non-sense about Trusteer Israeli based (WRONG) and legal jusridisction (WRONG as they are Boston based)

Do you need credentials? I am just trying to correct your wrong statements, and it is not the first time!

Come back with a document in which you demonstrate that Trusteer headquarters and base is Israel then you get all my respect and excuses otherwise the above stands, i.e. arrogant and unprofessional behaviour.

 

It's not clear to me what you're implying here. Do you feel that banking software developed in the US Vs other countries is more or less trustworthy? Or is the issue what legal recourse a US citizen would have in a dispute with a bank if he was defrauded online while using banking software made in the US Vs other countries?

 

I will answer your question the best I can. This whole dicussion is getting a bit tedious and this will be my last post on the subject.

There are other postings in this forum by individuals from the U.S. expressing their uneasiness with using foreign based software. The one that sticks in my mind was by someone uneasy about using Kapersky since it was Russian based. This in spite of the fact that Kapersky has been in the security software business since the "early days" and has the top malware research lab in the world. Pertaining to the recent development of online financial security software, all I am saying is proceed with caution. Throughly evaluate all aspects of the software you are going to entrust with your financial security. This includes but is not limited to:

1. Country of origin. Not to imply that their software is substandard but to what effect existing laws and political objectives can control and influence private enterprise within their borders.
2. Company reputation and business objectives such as primary client base, revenue generation models, etc. "Red flags" are deceptiveness in company origins and external funding sources. Also if a company's primary customer base is commercial why is it offering free retail software aside from government mandate?
3. Third party and individual reviews plus actual use experience putting privacy considerations at equal level to actual security capability.

 

My bank offers Trusteer Rapport for free but I do not use IE, so I have been using USB installed Puppy Linux to do OLB. Reading previous posts in this thread I see that some of you speculate that if an online banking account was hacked, the User may be held liable for the loss if they did not use appropriate security while executing an online financial transaction, which translates to the bank's supplied security application. Puppy Linux, or any Linux LiveCD is not considered a security application, so there may be some legal exposure here if it were to ever come to court. Just hope Linux never fails me as I am not too enthusiastic about Trusteer on any mobile device, especially any and all non-PCs.

 

Unfortunately, it appears the Linux solution is no longer immune from financial malware: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/08/linux_banking_trojan.

 

Hand of Thief helpdesk advices social engineering for delivery, like through email.
So using Puppy Linux on USB (or any LiveCD), is still more than enough.

 

Thanks for clarifying. I feel these are all valid considerations, although frankly it can be quite hard to assess things like the influence of governments on private enterprise, and how the laws in a particular country might impact a user in a different country. Good luck getting a clear statement even from your own bank as to whether or not they would consider you liable if defrauded while using security software created in a country other than where the bank is located. It seems to me if one is concerned about liability it's best to use what, if any, software the bank recommends. That said I won't use Rapport even though my bank recommends and links to it, because I don't feel it's the best solution.

As to why companies give away free retail software, I believe in the case of Rapport it's because the banks are Trusteer's actual customers not the users who install Rapport. It serves Trusteer to giveaway Rapport and make the user base as large as possible.