Sean Roach wrote:
I had to tell my sister not to use the cordless phone to use the automated banking services that our bank has available on grounds that transfers are also available through the same service.
It is my understanding that an ordinary banking consumer that uses "pay bills by phone" service cannot transfer $$ to any arbitrary account. There is a limited list of permitted accounts, such as utility companies. Therefore, the risk of unauthorized transfer is very limited. I would not be worried about this issue at all. The world at large is insecure in very many respects: it is easy to find out credit card numbers, overhear conversations, install hidden microphones, hack into computers, etc etc. It does not mean that we should stop all activity simply because there is "some" risk of losses.
Our father is a math teacher, computer hobbyists since 1979. Both of my parents have college educations. My sister pegged the scales on the state distributed proficiency tests. Yet she knows practically nothing outside of her field. I will probably have to show her the values of cryptography before she actually has any patient records to deal with, (she's a pharmacy major.)
- Igor.