Norwegian online banks have many security holes - claim

Internet Business News, Sept 6, 2004

INTERNET BUSINESS NEWS-(C)1995-2004 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Hackers who want to access the Norwegian online banks will find nothing to stop them, according to professor Kjell Jorgen Hole at the Bergen University, Norway.

According to the professor, the desire for simple solutions gives customers poor security. Hole has said that the phenomenon is being referred to as "security by obscurity", with banks being able to do this because people do not know what is required to make a system secure, reported Dagens Naeringsliv, a Norwegian business newspaper.

According to the newspaper, the cause of the problem is the combination of birthdates or account numbers combined with temporary pin codes that are used to give customers access. By generating large numbers of combinations, a hacker can apparently easily find valid combinations.

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