Question:
How secure is internet banking really? How does the security technology actually work?

Answer:
All the banks in South Africa that offer internet banking take security very seriously and go to great lengths to ensure their product is secure.

Many people and businesses use internet banking because it's user-friendly, convenient and prevents some of the other security risks associated with banking such as carrying or transporting cash. However, like any banking method, there are steps to take to ensure that online transactions are secure.

At Capitec Bank we put a very high premium on the security of our Internet Banking system. We partnered with internationally acclaimed security experts when we designed, built and tested the internet banking system. A sign of our commitment to security is the fact that we enforce the use of One-Time Password generating tokens as a second factor of authentication when logging on to the system as well as when payments are made. This protects customers to a large extent from phishing schemes and situations where malware-like key loggers are used to steal user?s login credentials.

Security is also built into the application development process and best practices like the Open Web Application Security Protocol (OWASP) are applied during the system design and development stages. The infrastructure that hosts the system was also designed in co-operation with network experts to ensure resilience and security of the system and all the normal security measures like SSL encryption (provided by Entrust digital certificates) are in place.

Over and above these measures, we employ external security experts to perform vulnerability assessments and code reviews on the applications at a fairly high frequency and daily vulnerability scans are run against the system.

Security has multiple dimensions and we will continue to review and improve all facets of the security of our Internet Banking system to ensure that our clients receive the world class protection they deserve.