Beginning today, users of Banco Nacional’s Web site have a new option for logging in to their account.
Banco Nacional announced earlier this week that it would introduce, beginning today, a “virtual keyboard” where clients “type” their password by clicking on the letters and numbers with their mouse, rather than entering it on their keyboard.
The security measure looks to protect clients against having their password copied by programs called “keyloggers,” which can be installed unknowingly on users’ computers by viruses. A keylogger records keystrokes entered on a computer and then transmits them to another computer.
The virtual keyboard also displays numbers and letters in a random order that changes every day, Banco Nacional said.
The new system is optional. However, clients who choose to stick to the current system of entering their password with their keyboard will be barred from adding new “favorite accounts” online for money transfers.
Instead, to add a “favorite account,” which is mandatory for any account where a user wants to transfer money, clients must authorize the new account in person at a bank branch.
Computers must also comply with a series of requirements to use the new system. Those are listed on Banco Nacional’s Web site, www.bncr.fi.cr.
Banco Nacional came under fire earlier this year after clients complained that intruders managed to transfer thousands of dollars out of their accounts online without their knowledge.
Banco Nacional blamed clients, saying they must have been careless with their passwords,
and refused to reimburse the losses.
