Tag: finance

Insecure Banks

More than 75% of the bank Web sites surveyed had at least 1 design flaw that could make customers vulnerable to cyber thieves after their money or even their identity.

root cause: a belief that the web site is a cost center, while wasting money on countless branch offices. no wonder they can only afford incompetent web technology.
2013-11-06: if you thought banks encrypt the traffic on their international leased lines, well…
2014-01-11:

90% contained several non-SSL links throughout the application. This allows an attacker to intercept the traffic and inject arbitrary JavaScript/HTML code in an attempt to create a fake login prompt or similar scam.

50% of the apps are vulnerable to JavaScript injections via insecure UIWebView implementations. In some cases, the native iOS functionality was exposed, allowing actions such as sending SMS or emails from the victim’s device.

in the move from shitty websites to shitty “apps”, we’re going backwards several years as implementers have to relearn all security lessons. you probably don’t want to trust any “apps” from your financial institution.

Africa ETF

There is a new Africa ETF out and trading. Modeled on the Dow Jones Africa Titans 50 Index, the Africa Index ETF is intended to give investors direct exposure to African economies via companies with the largest presence there, whether headquartered there or elsewhere.

Smartphone Ending Poverty?

“You don’t even need to own a phone to benefit from one”. Part of I.D.E.’s work included setting up farm cooperatives in Nepal, where farmers would bring their vegetables to a local person with a phone, who then acted as a commissioned sales agent, using the phone to check market prices and arranging for the most profitable sale. “People making $1 a day can’t afford a phone, but if they start making more profit in their farming, you can bet they’ll buy a phone as a next step”

chipchase gets the NYT writeup.
2008-04-13:

Americans, and particularly those in lower-income groups, are deriving clear economic benefits from phones—even though low-income groups are far less likely to own a phone. if the 38% of these 45.2m low-income, bottom quintile households that do not now have phones were to start using them, and earn money at the same rate as those households that do own phones—it would add $2.9b to household incomes.

i am especially interested in the m-banking aspect. death to payday loans. somewhere, koranteng is smiling.