Banks must stop the phishers

That phishing is up nearly 1,500 per cent and online banking fraud cost the UK £22.5m in the first six months of this year will knock public confidence.

But the implications may not be as bad as they first appear.

First, online banking is not uniquely risky, just new. Phishing is a new type of crime and is following the same trajectory as any other: increasing sharply as criminals jump on the bandwagon before targets get wise.

Second, in relative terms, phishing is easy to perpetrate, offering significant rewards in return for comparatively little effort, far from the scene of the crime.

Customer education and awareness are certainly central issues in ensuring that the number of attacks does not continue its exponential rise. But ultimately the responsibility for securing a customer’s money lies with the bank, not the client.

The two-factor authentication technology being introduced by some banks is undoubtedly a key step, which should make phishing more difficult and reassure technology-shy customers that online banking is safe.

But equally important are measures that are less immediately obvious to the end users, such as keeping an eye on where and when money is withdrawn to spot suspicious transactions, and monitoring forums known to be used by criminal gangs for co-ordinating attacks.

This country is unlike the US in that banks are not required to make it public when they are subjected to a phishing attack. While such enforced openness may do little more than spook already twitchy customers, the principle is valid.

Banks need to put as much effort into behind-the-scenes security measures as they do into high-profile chip-and-PIN technology, and into telling clients they are doing so. And alongside educating customers about their own behaviour, the institutions need to be frank about the scale of the threat.

Only improved awareness and greater co-ordination and collaboration across the industry will ensure confidence in online banking. And only then will phishing’s early growth spurt be over.