Hot on the heels of NSW Police warnings on the use of Windows for online transactions, last week, FBI Director Robert Mueller told an audience in San Francisco how he nearly fell for a bank phishing email. As a result of this Mueller now doesn’t do any banking on line.
Then Washington Post “Security Fix” columnist Brian Krebs advised businesses not to carry out online banking on Windows-based machines and to use a Linux-based LiveCD.
Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, writing at ZD Net, went one step further and suggested that no-one use Windows for either banking or online shopping. Period.
I fear I will be branded as an anti-Windows radical for reporting these findings but I’m just glad to see well respected industry people and security experts having the guts to make these statements without fear of being lambasted by the Microsoft press machine which has gone surprisingly quiet. They are probably hoping the release of Windows 7 will distract people. Let’s hope that it doesn’t have the same issues as the older versions and spare a thought for those who can’t afford to upgrade.