Suggestions for Secure Online Banking

[Doofenshmirtz]

I'm considering using the PBP for online banking.  I was thinking about booting from an SD card just for this purpose.  Is anyone doing this now?  Which os would you suggest?  Are there any precautions I should take with that os?  Thanks.

[tophneal]

Are there specific concerns you want to avoid/address when accessing your banking portal? Really, any of the OS options should be suitable for using an online banking portal. Any additional security measures you want, will just have to be installed/set up.

[Doofenshmirtz]

I'm a long time Windows and Norton (antivirus, firewall, internet security, etc.) user. I've always kept both updated and I've switched to newer versions when they became available. I've paid for these services and I trusted that they were doing their job.

There are three choices of OS for PBP. Some appear dated (e.g. Android). Are they still receiving updates? It seems exploits are always popping up. Some builds are not being provided by an official repository. Do they represent security risks (no offense to those that provided them) because there are not enough eyes on the process?

Thanks.

[bcnaz]

I'm a long time Windows and Norton (antivirus, firewall, internet security, etc.) user.  I've always kept both updated and I've switched to newer versions when they became available.  I've paid for these services and I trusted that they were doing their job.

There are three choices of OS for PBP.  Some appear dated (e.g. Android).  Are they still receiving updates?  It seems exploits are always popping up.  Some builds are not being provided by an official repository.  Do they represent security risks (no offense to those that provided them) because there are not enough eyes on the process?

Thanks.

I am not too informed on what apps are available,  but quite often when using Linux if a good app
happens along it will work on many of the Distros.

  Often the repository for a mainstream Distro will just work on many other Distros'

 Also seems location matters,  I was looking at bank apps a while back,  there seemed to be several  West of the Atlantic,  but I did not happen to see any for USA banks.

When I have talked to some bank personel it seems some banks already use Linux in house, even though most only seem to have, Windows, Android, ios apps available.
 
  Perhaps if people started asking,  maybe they could possibly start releasing some bank supported
Linux apps...?

BUT we do not want Google apps,  everything from the Google Store is 'wrapped' with Google trackers.

[Der Geist der Maschine]

About the default Debian

The most critical software comes from Pine64

- Linux Kernel is behind: 4.4.207 vs 4.4.210
- Firefox and Chromium come as binary blobs. It's not clear how they were modified. Perhaps check if their versions are behind as well.

Not all Debian software is actively supported, either. /usr/bin/check-support-status from the debian-security-support package lists several package on my machine which don't get security updates.


About the hardware

The two Cortex-A72 "out-of-order execution" cores are vulnerable to Spectre and Meltdown. Due to their simplicity, the 4 Cortex-A53 "in-order execution" cores are neither vulnerable to Spectre nor Meltdown.



You better visit your banker in person 

[bcnaz]

That eliminates one vulnerability, BUT, then your Banker will use their terminal to access your information...! Pfft online again

Unless your bank only uses paper records.? You can get safer, but in todays software world nothing is 100% secure.

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Personally I do go to the bank, for bank checks and mail 'some' of my bills, but some must be electronic.