The most important tips for online banking

The number of participants in online banking is growing, and is enjoying increasing enthusiasm.

In the year 2018, 50% of Germans now have online access to their checking account. Nevertheless, on closer examination, the proportion has grown by only about 5% in the past 5 years. The reasons for this are among others, often the recurrent reports about security vulnerabilities, or stolen records. Of course, this does not necessarily create trust among customers.

In part, however, it is also the case that the users even by ignorance, or negligence, your data in the hands of scammers, or at least make it easy. In our article, we would like to point out the most important points from our point of view, so that you can do your money conveniently and, above all, safely from home.

The most important tips for online banking

The number of participants in online banking is growing, and is enjoying increasing enthusiasm.

In the year 2018, 50% of Germans now have online access to their checking account. Nevertheless, on closer examination, the proportion has grown by only about 5% in the past 5 years. The reasons for this are among others, often the recurrent reports about security vulnerabilities, or stolen records. Of course, this does not necessarily create trust among customers.

In part, however, it is also the case that the users even by ignorance, or negligence, your data in the hands of scammers, or at least make it easy. In our article, we would like to point out the most important points from our point of view, so that you can do your money conveniently and, above all, safely from home.

1. Overview of the TAN procedure

After many attempts by the banks, the following procedures have now been established:

The iTan procedure

Here you will receive from your bank a list in paper form by mail, on which the TANs (transaction numbers) are numbered consecutively. For each transaction (such as a transfer), you will be prompted to enter a specific TAN from the list for the transaction in question.

When the process is finished, the TAN is also used up and can not be used a second time.

Although this process is still used by some banks, it is actually considered obsolete and not very secure because iTan is not bound to the details of the transfer such as: IBAN, amount or date.

If you are still using this procedure, we recommend that you ask your bank what procedures are still available.

Mobile TAN (SMS TAN)

This process is a bit more complex, and therefore also provides increased security.

Here you enter your transfer data on the PC, and a few seconds later you will receive an SMS from your bank with the TAN on your mobile phone. For reconciliation you will find in this SMS also the amount of the transaction, as well as. the last 4 digits of the IBAN of the recipient.

Basically, one can say that this method is quite safe. Of course, it also requires a complete security chain for your browser on the PC and, best of all, anti-virus protection on your mobile phone.

Chip TAN

The Chip TAN is almost like a terminal in the bank branch itself, and offers very high security.

Here you will receive from your bank for a small fee of usually 10 – 15 Euro a TAN Generator which in combination with your debit card (which must be previously activated by your bank for this) generates a TAN for each transaction.

However, once again, you have to take care of the security of your PC. Because this is the actual vulnerability in this process.

Photo Tan

With the Photo TAN you also need an external device which you have to register with your bank.

This method works so after entering the transfer data that you have entered on your PC, a graphic is generated on your computer, which you then scan again with said reader. The reader can then decrypt the displayed image data on your monitor and generate a TAN from it.

Basically, this process is very similar to the Chip TAN process, as both processes use the combination of PC Monitor and TAN Generator to generate the actual TAN, and is therefore also very safe.

Although there are other methods, but basically it is as you have already noticed, always about as safe as possible to create a TAN or transfer.

Incidentally, a relatively new procedure specifically for mobile banking is the ING-DIBA on.
In this case, the smartphone is registered as a primary device for online banking, and also can not easily be replaced (e.g., by a new or foreign device).

What does this mean the online banking app is firmly tied to exactly this device in combination with your phone number. Here, there is only one single 4-digit access number for each process, which can be used as a universal TAN for each process.

At first glance, this seems relatively uncertain, because if your smartphone is stolen, it will open the door to the perpetrators of your account. However, this relativized quickly, because you have after 3 failed attempts when entering this access number no more possibility to log in with the smartphone, but must then unlock the device on the PC over the much longer login process the device again.

In terms of comfort, this is one of the most convenient ways to do your banking on the go, compared to the above.