So, why is any of this of interest, especially in a column devoted to tech and society? Because, one little item in the middle of this story caught my attention. It was a quote by a Northern Rock depositor who, seeing the long line in front of his local branch, decided to be clever and go online to withdraw his funds. The response: The server was currently busy.
That wasn’t surprising. So he tried again. And again. And again. The same reply every time. Forty-eight hours later, he was still getting a “server busy” reply. Needless to say, he had long since come to the conclusion that the system wasn’t overloaded at all, but that Northern Rock had simply locked down the system.
For 20 years now, we’ve all been worried about cybercrime, identity theft and the loss of privacy in regards to banking on the Internet. Some people are so fearful of the Wild West Web that they simply refuse to bank there.
But what never crossed my mind, and I suspect not yours either, is that the banks themselves might pose a threat — that they might, willy-nilly, choose to lock their virtual doors in the same way that they historically have shuttered their real ones.
Their site looks all right to me. Some grist for the mill, certainly, but hardly worthy of cries that the sky is falling.
I haven’t heard of the Northern Rock Bank, but I am not too worried about the Royal Bank of Canada.
Is your online account safe?
A) No.
B) Duh!
Every week there’s news about some bank or credit card company that’s been hacked. You want safe, go to the branch.
No surprise there…….
always keep an adequate supply of cash at home. it will take the gov. at least a week to ramp up the press in the case of an economic collapse. you will be able to buy some of the things you might need during that week.
Makes sense to me, better lock down for a few days , and prevent a total economic collapse.
When my mother died, I immediately informed my Canadian financial institution. I had a joint account with her. The financial institution’s response? They froze not only the joint account I had with her, but all my accounts. My accounts were frozen for a week.
Now I understand why some people would never put all their funds in a single financial institution.