Is Your Bank Protecting Your Data?

Do you have any idea what your bank is doing to ensure that your private data remains private? In the wake of a number of high-profile hacking cases, one expert is giving his advice on how to rate the data privacy practices of banks and other financial institutions.

In an opinion piece on eWeek.com, editor-in-chief Eric Lundquist offers up what he calls "20 really embarrassing questions to ask your bank." The questions, he says, are designed to help people discover just what banks are doing to ensure their privacy - and where the banks are falling short.

Lundquist brings up the hacking incident at CardSystem Solutions, which may have exposed close to 40 million people to data theft. "That hack had nothing to do with trying to scam personal data from home computers and everything to do with the increased focus by computer criminals on hijacking large amounts of information from millions of individuals traveling on corporate computer networks," Lundquist says.

Even if you do everything "right" when it comes to data security, from changing passwords and updating your software, Lundquist says it's a moot point if financial institutions aren't protecting your data.

Among Lundquist's 20 questions are: will the bank tell you if unauthorized people have accessed your account? What happens if someone uses your credit card without your permission? Does the bank have a firewall? Does the bank protect stored data?

To read the full article, and to take Lundquist's quiz, click here: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1831007,00.asp