OFF TOPIC/ Net banking - email steals PIN code

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UBS warns Net banking customers of email virus

By Reuters

Special to CNET News.com

September 21, 2000, 7:40 a.m. PT

ZURICH, Switzerland--Swiss financial group UBS today warned its clients of a new

email virus attack that could affect some customers of its electronic banking

services.

" It is a virus directly aimed at our UBS PIN (Personal Identification Number)

software. It seeks for the software on a PC and sends a mail back with the

secret PIN numbers, " a bank representative said.

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" It was detected by our technical services, " she added. " We have no reports of

clients being affected. We issued a warning as soon as possible. "

UBS PIN is a part of the software for electronic banking with UBS Pay, which is

used for electronic payments.

The new virus, like the " resume.txt " virus of mid-August, is spread using the

Microsoft Outlook email program and Microsoft Outlook Express. The email does

not carry any text but contains the subject header " Funny Story " or " When did

you die? " The virus is spread when an attachment is opened.

In August, UBS recommended that customers keep the PIN file on a separate floppy

disk and not on the hard disk. Now, it is advising clients not to use the UBS

PIN software at all. It said its electronic banking service meets the highest

security standards.

Regards

Norgaard