If Blizzard can do it, why can't BofA, HSBC, WaMu, Chase, Wachovia et. al?
 

I've read lots of stories about security for banking and paying online. There's lots of fraud that happens online, from paypal to World of Warcraft. If Blizzard can do this cheaply, $6.50 pricepoint for 10 Million users, why aren't the banks doing such a thing?

Many companies use SecureID fobs for their employees. It's expensive to implement and cost of ownership isn't cheap, but I don't see why a video game company can do such a thing, and yet we're being given PayPass no swipe access and under $50 no signature required as part of our security allowances.

SecureID systems aren't THAT pricey, and there are non-RSA branded alternatives that are even cheaper. Some banks, I believe, DO offer this type of option. It isn't a bad plan. When I first heard Blizz was offering a PAID security option, I was offended. When I heard it was key fobs, I decided it was an awesome idea.

Banks have to strike a balance between security and convenience that Blizzard doesn't have to worry about. People don't want to be inconvenienced when doing something so mundane as accessing their bank account. If they had to use a keychain fob and enter a code every time they swiped their credit card, a lot of people would just stop using the card alltogether. Whether or not this is a disadvantage is questionable when viewed from the end user's perspective, but from the bank's perspective it certainly is. Especially if that individual then uses a competitor's card instead.

This is great. I'll be getting one. My SO will most likely be getting one as well. He had a weird thing happen a couple months ago where his password was changed--and not by him. Luckily, he caught it quickly and emailed Blizzard and they took care of it; nothing went missing from his account, and none of his information was stolen. Blizzard has actually been really good on this score--their customer service is also excellent in my experience (and some of the GMs are downright funny).

But yes, I wish other organizations had similar offerings for security.

I understand what you're talking about. I'm not necessarily talking about using my MC/VISA. But today in NYC I don't even have to sign for something. I can swipe the card for purchases under $50, and walk out the store with whatever was purchased. No signature required.

I am however talking about ACCESSING my bank account via the internet. It isn't smart to use a Internet cafe to access your bank account, as there may be a keylogger present. My bank HSBC actually has a mouse click keyboard as a secondary authentication to combat keyloggers. But if there was a keyfob, then there isn't any real fear of keyloggers recording and access.

Right, except that it's the same story again. The bank has to be as secure as possible, but also has to keep the security as transparent as possible. Online banking is your bank's best friend, because it means less branches, less tellers, etc. But if people needed a keyfob to use it, fewer people would. The bank balances the risk of keloggers with the convenience of being able to access your account from anywhere with internet access, and this is the compromise.

I don't think I'd do online banking in an internet cafe anyway, but perhaps that's just me.

Some banks do this with business accounts. You get a little keychain thing that displays some 12 digit number that you have to enter on the site to access various functions.

I work for one of the top 15 banks in the US and we decided it was completely too expensive, especially in today's economy. By expensive, I mean too expensive to implement.

Also, we did some market analysis, and pretty much nobody was interested in having this because it adds one more step to logging in to your account. Nobody wants to have to carry something around to be able to access their online banking.

Lastly, a good chunk of our client-base is over the age of 50, and an even larger percentage of those don't even use debit cards - still write checks. There's no convincing our Executive Management to allocate millions to this initiative whenever a massive chunk of our clients don't even use online banking.

Great idea, difficult to implement with the masses. WoW's clients are probably at least somewhat more PC-initiated than banking in general - that's the reason this works for them.

Actually, you see that this is a cost implementation that can be offered at a reasonable cost. $6.50 for the fob... sure yes there are backend costs associated with this, but note most importantly this is OPT in for WoW.

So why not give me the option of if I would like to have additional security for my online banking?

If the corporation I worked for implemented every new technology that seemed like a clear winner, we'd be bankrupt or bought out in 6 months.

Most corporations don't have the flexibility to try every new technology - they have to wait things out and make sure it's the way to go. I remember our last blunder - we implemented biometric hand scanners in various branches that were located in technology-savvy markets/regions. They secured access to the safety deposit boxes. NO ONE used them. They worked perfectly, but no one would use them - it was a hassle. They want to just walk in to the safety deposit box room, do their business, and leave - having to plant their hand on a scanner to get access to the room complicated things. They would rather be less safe and secure in order to expedite their trip to the bank.

Our Board of Directors and CEO probably see items such as a key fob as money down the drain - you'd be surprised how much the back end costs affect the bottom line. Take the fact that our stock price has dropped nearly 50% in the past year because of the banking industry's overall down turn, and that's your reason why we can't do this :thumbsup:

HSBC has been doing this for my business account for a few years now.