What's the most secure way to do online banking in Thailand?

[Mover1]

Hi,

I don't know if this has been asked before but i'd like some advice on the most secure way to do online banking in Thailand, using my laptop. Is the wifi at hotels or coffee shops ok to use for this, or is there a more secure way?

I will also need to print off and sign some important documents when i stay there from April. As i'll be staying at hotels for the most part, where's the easiest (and most secure) place to get things printed off and sent back to the UK?

Thanks for any advice you can give me

[Crossy]

A paid VPN (about a dollar a week) will get you past any prying eyes on hotel / cafe WiFi and add an extra layer of confidence.

As to printing, hotel business centres or your local internet cafe, take the file on a memory stick.

How sensitive is the printing? If you're really paranoid about it, it may pay to buy a cheap printer here and abandon it when you leave.

[Inyourendo]

Avast has a good safe area you can open sites such as for banking etc....seems very secure.

I however, never use coffee shops and such, only ever my home internet and log out of everything else, only open banking sites at the time.....never had a problem doing it this way.

[RKASA]

Just get a sim card and hotspot your own phone with proper secure settings and use 3g while your here. Your link to your bank will be encrypted and as secure as use at your home. Most or many good hotels have a business center you can print & load from a flash drive for access to printers without connecting your PC to their LAN - your AV will check the drive coming and going.

[Rob13]

Access your bank via a Linux USB installer.

[lopburi3]

Just be aware any use of USB flash drive for printing risks an extra payload on return - be best to use one time and destroy.

[Inyourendo]

Wow....buy a printer and throw it away......buy a USB stick and throw it away......talk about over the top...anyone would think you lot secret spies or such

[Rob13]

I throw the whole computer out and get a new one every time. Can't be too cautious when doing your banking.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Rob13

[Chicog]

Just be aware any use of USB flash drive for printing risks an extra payload on return - be best to use one time and destroy.

I hope you mean one time and reformat.

But I'd advise Panda USB Vaccine to lock down the Autorun.inf, and turn off Autorun on Windows as well.

[lopburi3]

It was an old small Mbit drive I only used for sending photos to shop and on insert it tried to take over computer - which recovered after many minutes of overheated activity and isolated for destruction - my safe reaction was to remove and destroy rather than trust computer to survive again. Low price to pay rather than take the chance of my pushing a wrong button. Did remove from computer isolation also so not sure what it was - but USB seems to be a popular mode to spread here and was not expecting from major photo printing shop.

Trying to run with only defender since move to Windows 10 - had been using Panda previously. Defender seemed to have got it but during that time had no idea what was going on - only that computer was not working right and using almost all its capacity for nothing visible.

[KhunBENQ]

Just get a sim card and hotspot your own phone with proper secure settings and use 3g while your here. Your link to your bank will be encrypted and as secure as use at your home. Most or many good hotels have a business center you can print & load from a flash drive for access to printers without connecting your PC to their LAN - your AV will check the drive coming and going.

This is indeed as safe as you can go.

But:

You want to use your own laptop and your bank uses a safe encryption protocol?

Check out here about the quality of your banks encryption:

https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

With your own laptop a public open WiFi does not pose a specific risk.

Your data could be intercepted but not be deciphered.

By theory applies to all https connections.

If you don't trust in that then you can do no relevant business on the internet at all.

Most important is to have your laptop up-to-date and safe and keep an eye on it (never borrow, lock it away at home).

Never use foreign/public computers/PCs for any critical business!

Edited February 14, 2016 by KhunBENQ

[DaveBKK]

Here's a recent report on all the major Thai bank web security settings: https://medium.com/innovative-extremist/ssl-test-for-online-banking-in-thailand-952989bc96df#.ruz7t5abm

Btw as long as you have a secure TLS connection to the bank site, it makes n difference if you're using public wifi. As long as certificates match and you don't get a certificate mismatch warning, you'll be ok.

[Mover1]

Thanks for all the replies and info, it's a great help.

Seems like using any wifi is fine then, as long as my banks (Barclays) encryption is good. I don't intend to use a public computer for any of this, and i think i've found a way around the need to print anything so i should be set.

The comment about getting a thai sim card is interesting though. I'm currently with EE in the UK and will be keeping the same number while i'm in Thailand, I can make calls using wifi with EE but i'm not sure if it's free yet, they're saying there could be a local network charge added so i won't know until i've made a few calls with it. I'm getting my iPhone 6 unlocked with EE before i go, so i can put in a thai sim card if needed. Is there any thai networks that people recommend, and is 4G available yet?

[PT4]

Use a bank that has 2-factor or 3-factor authentication. What's that? You sign in to your bank website with a password (factor #1). Then the bank sends an email or SMS to your mobile phone with a number code. You must enter that code on the bank website before you can proceed (factor #2). Then you can see your balance, but that's all you can do. To pay bills or transfer funds you'll need another code number. This comes from a small device -- the size of a credit card or a USB "thumb drive" -- there are various styles. This generates a key code that you must enter in order to move money out of your account (factor #3). Sounds complicated, and, for me, took a few trials to get used to it. But now I have accounts at two banks which use 3-factor authentication. I sleep well.

[PT4]

Here's a recent report on all the major Thai bank web security settings: https://medium.com/innovative-extremist/ssl-test-for-online-banking-in-thailand-952989bc96df#.ruz7t5abm

​

​Valuable report. Thank you "DaveBKK" for posting that link.

Edited February 17, 2016 by PT4

[asdecas]

Here's a recent report on all the major Thai bank web security settings: https://medium.com/innovative-extremist/ssl-test-for-online-banking-in-thailand-952989bc96df#.ruz7t5abm

​

​Valuable report. Thank you "DaveBKK" for posting that link.

Yes, but is the OP even asking about Thai banks? It's not clear, but since he appears to be from the UK, it is likely he's asking more about connection to his UK bank, not intrinsic security of banking websites. Nonetheless, an interesting link. I'm glad I do not bank with KTB.

[gandalf12]

Wow....buy a printer and throw it away......buy a USB stick and throw it away......talk about over the top...anyone would think you lot secret spies or such

If we were not a little paranoid that is when people access your account and relieve you of some of the load if not all. A VPN is definitely required if you are using coffee shop wifi's

[nabbie]

Try rapport trusteer? - See via google....

[Tracyb]

Thanks for all the replies and info, it's a great help.

Seems like using any wifi is fine then, as long as my banks (Barclays) encryption is good. I don't intend to use a public computer for any of this, and i think i've found a way around the need to print anything so i should be set.

The comment about getting a thai sim card is interesting though. I'm currently with EE in the UK and will be keeping the same number while i'm in Thailand, I can make calls using wifi with EE but i'm not sure if it's free yet, they're saying there could be a local network charge added so i won't know until i've made a few calls with it. I'm getting my iPhone 6 unlocked with EE before i go, so i can put in a thai sim card if needed. Is there any thai networks that people recommend, and is 4G available yet?

4G is available in most urban areas. Most of Bangkok for sure as we use it here. We use "True" for our phone and 3G &4G. works well, never had a problem myself, but I'm sure you'll hear more from others. As for internet connections. if you get a wireless router in your home/apartment/abode.... see if you can connect directly to it with an ethernet cable and avoid the wireless connection. As others have said, if your bank encryption is good, probably no worries. I just like to be "wired" to the net and not sending my signals through the vapor around my condo. Best of luck!

[cyberfarang]

I do all my online banking both Thai and England accounts from my home using a PC and a cable connected router and even then I do a full virus and spyware scan on my computer before logging in.

As for using online banking outside on a WIFI system, I wouldn`t fancy it.

Edited February 20, 2016 by cyberfarang

[2008bangkok]

As another poster said, the connection to the site will be secure so aslong as the hotel/wifi are not doing a Man in the Middle attack then it will be fine.

Most banks nowadays will send you a One Time Password to your phone for using with Verified by Visa, when doing out of the ordinary transactions like transferring money.

For my bank i generally use the banks app and use 3g because the app will only let the registered phone number connect and even if using wifi most services are disabled.

[Speedo1968]

I have a Card Reader from my UK bank. If I wish to log in to my account online I must first put in a long digit code, if this is correct I must then insert my bank card into the reader which will give a further group of numbers to use for log in. There is a time limit for each action. The card reader is small, light weight and yes batteries are available in Thailand.